You think it's hard work trying to get people to buy things? Put yourself in the position of those dreamers who try every year to get people to buy nothing. Give it a rest, they say. Borrow, recycle, repair, eat at home. Call a moratorium on yearend gift-giving. Resist the blandishments of advertisers and cut loose from the consumer rat race.

It's only for 24 hours -- the day after Thanksgiving in America (Nov. 23 this year) and soon after that everywhere else. "Mu-bai-day" is being observed in Japan today, with events in Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo and other cities. (Not coincidentally, this is the weekend that marks the traditional, frenzied start of the Christmas shopping season.)

But Buy Nothing Day stirs up a surprising amount of controversy, even in good times. Organizers have yet to persuade any of the "Big Three" U.S. television networks to run their 30-second anticonsumerist commercial, and they have been trying since 1992. Nor is there any evidence that statistically significant numbers of Japanese have abandoned their favorite rituals of shopping for brand-name stuff and giving and receiving mountains of seasonal gifts, even after three years of BND campaigns in this country. This year, though, the task of winning converts to the cause seems more uphill than ever.