For visitors to Japan or people seeing street scenes on the news or on a TV show, they might well ask, why are so many Japanese people wearing masks?
Are Japanese people just really shy and hid behind their masks?
Are they germaphobic?
Do they have really bad allergies?
They can’t all be surgeons about to do an operation.
Those with suspicious minds will suspect they are up to no good. Could they be about to rob a bank?
To be honest, the reasons why they wear masks can be for a variety of reasons, let’s get into some of the main reasons.
Social responsibility – stop the spread of germs
The most common reason people in Japan wear masks is because they are sick and don’t want to pass on their colds/flues to others (sorry to quash the bank robbery theory so early on)
When they are sick they feel obliged to wear a mask to stop the spread of their illness to fellow commuters on the train or other employees at their place of work.
In crowded cities such as Tokyo with people traveling, working, and living in such close proximity it’s easy to see how a cold/flu outbreak could get out of hand. I think in modern times it’s good to find an example of a mainly unselfish act that helps the community and society as a whole
Prevention
It’s very understandable that when you see many sick people around you on the train and in the office, you would like to prevent yourself from catching whatever is going around.
So many people will wear a mask to help them to stay healthy and not sub come to the latest bug which is circulating in the population.
Allergies
Many people in Japan suffer from hay fever (Kafunsho – pollen illness). It’s an allergic reaction to the pollen of certain plants and causes symptoms including sneezing, a runny nose, headache, and itchy eyes.
Below is information about the main culprits which cause allergies for many in Japan, this information is based on the Tokyo area, so will vary in other parts of Japan.
Japanese cedar (sugi) February – April
Japanese cypress (Hinoki) mid-March – early May
Rice plant (ine) May-mid July and mid-August-mid- October
Ragweed (butakusa) mid-August – October
Artemisia (yomigi) mid-August – October
The Japanese Cedar/cypress tree’s pollen cause the most problems with hay fever suffering because of the sheer amount of pollen they produce.
Why is there such a large amount of Cedar/cypress forests?
Shortly after World War 2, the reforestation policy resulted in large forests of cedar and cypress being planted, which was important for the construction industry, as these trees mature they start to produce large amounts of pollen. The peak production of pollen occurs in trees 30 years and older.
In the 70s and 80s, cheaper imports meant a decreased need for cedar/cypress, so the forests stay mainly untouched and continue to mature and produce more and more pollen.
Hay fever was relatively uncommon in Japan until the early 60s, so there is a link between the cedar/cypress trees which produce such a large amount of pollen, and the increase of people suffering from Hay fever.
Social anxiety
I found this an interesting reason for wearing a mask in Japan. The mask can be used as a privacy shield to provide a degree of separation between them and society.
There is an actual culture-specific syndrome that is specific to Japan, it is Taijin Kyofusho which was listed as a Cultural Phobia of Japan in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 2000.
Taijin Kyofusho (TKS), which translates to “the fear of interpersonal relations”.
Tajin Kyofusho occurs in about 10-20 percent of the Japanese population and is more common in men than in women.
The symptoms of Taijin Kyofusho include:
Blushing
Inappropriate eye contact
Shaking
Difficulty speaking
Sweating
Gastrointestinal distress
Japanese culture stresses the good of the group over the desires/needs of the individual, so people who have this phobia are fearful that their body appearance or function causes offense or displeasing to others.
This is made clear by the difference between Taijin Kyofusho and social phobias in the west. People with social phobia are afraid of experiencing embarrassment in front of others, while Japanese people with Taijin Kyofusho are afraid of embarrassing others in their presence.
The wearing of masks can be a useful tool for people with Taijin Kyofusho and other anxiety issues, when in public.
Fitness Training
Some people wear masks while they are exercising especially running and other cardio activities. They say the mask slightly reduces the amount of oxygen getting to the lungs. So it is more difficult and gives them a better workout and can even be like training at altitude.
I have no idea if this is effective or has any medical backing, but I’m reliably informed this is a common belief and is used by many while exercising.
Covering up/Celebrities in disguise
Wearing a mask in public can be a way for people to hide physical imperfections and even for women who don’t want to wear makeup for any reason, to go to work, or just pop out to the shops. Also, some women will wear a mask to avoid unwelcome attention from male train commuters.
This would attract attention in most countries, but Japanese celebrities can wear a hat, sunglasses, and a mask and go about in public and not be recognized for the most part.
Fashion
It might seem counter-intuitive, but wearing a mask that covers most of the face is considered a fashion accessory by many people in Japan.
Nowadays you can get masks in many colors to match your outfit or mood. There are different shapes of masks to accentuate the shape of your face. You can get masks that have moisturizer embedded in them and like a modern-day stuff box, there are masks with various aromas impregnated in them to make your daily train commute more bearable by vanquishing the smells of your fellow commuters.
In wintertime, masks are also used to keep your face warm and protect your throat by keeping it moist.
My viewpoint
At first, when I first started looking into this topic – Why do Japanese people wear masks, I thought it might give us a limited insight into Japanese society and getting into the Japanese mind, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
It would be logical to think that people wear masks because they are sick or have an allergy, but it goes much further than this in Japan, the main reason is to prevent other people from catching whatever they have, it’s a form of social responsibility thinking of others and society as a whole, in the west we can be more selfish and think of ours needs/wants first and not what would be best for society as a whole. I hope to continue to find topics that can get us closer to understanding the fascinating country and people that are Japan
