Why do so many Japanese people wear face masks in Japan?

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Saru-kun

There are several reasons people wear them in Japan.

1) If you have a cold you should wear them so you don't give it to others. This is part of the polite nature of Japanese.
2) If you have allergies you wear it to prevent breathing in pollen and other allergens.
3) A very small portion of people wear them to avoid catching a cold or virus or because of pollution. Mostly 1 or 2.

It really has nothing to do with smells in most cases. You will see Japanese wear them abroad if they are sick but most don't want to wear them just for allergies when on vacation.

kaminjapan

Some wear them if they have a cold, in order to reduce the risk of spreading the germs, but most wear the white masks in early spring to avoid breathing in pollen. Over 30 percent of the population has hay fever and due to the large amount of cedar trees in Japan, the air is literally YELLOW with pollen. SARS was a concern a few years back, but now, they're mostly used to reduce the symptoms of hay fever.

Croxx

I believe it's because they have a cold / flu etc

Edit - ah looks like I'm wrong.

Cosmos

Mostly they wear it because of:
1. Allergies
2. They don't want to spread/catch cold or flu.
3. The sandstorm coming from mainland China. (This happens during Spring time every year.)

They do look scary, but what can you do? I think it's better than do nothing and get or spread every kind of germs to and from people around you.

therrence

they wear mask because they have cold or flue.they don't want others to be affected by them. and some reason is they have sensitive smells,they don't want to catch a hay fever;pollenosis( kafun).

vancouver_syndicate

usually it's to help stop spread disease. oddly enough it's the wearer that is sick with the flu or cold

some wear it to prevent pollen. hay fever is a big problem there.

hayley m

there can be a number of reasons
-out of consideration if they are ill so they dont pass it on to others
-some children living in highly built up cities wear masks to stop pollution affecting their growth/health
-in visual kei it is considered a fashion accesory

mimi422

they wear them mostly when they're sick (this could be a permanent sickness, but it could be a cold). It also sometimes is because of pollution and bad air. in europe and america, it may be a bit because no one else wears masks, but i doubt people that wear masks and are sick would be in a different country....

also, if it's a yankee or something wearing it, then that's style. they think it's cool

Eiitirou

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pollen is Japanese cedar's pollen.

mask blocks from attack the pollen, in spring.

Jeniv the Brit

I think it's for their traditional dance.

xUnsure.Cx Pon<3

i could have sworn a video we watched in school said it was cos of pollution, and for a lot of them, it's so bad it makes them cough and find it hard to breathe.

Why so serious?

My family wear their's in Tokyo because of all the pollution, it's quite disgusting. I don't want to wear one, fashion concious.
NO pollution?
There's no such thing as NO pollution you know.
Maybe they are worried about Asian flu xD
And my Family do still wear masks in Europe, they do in London, America too.
What's food got to do with this?
:S

crystalr.jones

I used to live in Tokyo and it is so populated you would want to wear one too. They have all types of transportation running, subways, trains, buses, motorcycles, cars, trucks, etc. So its just to stay healthy and not swallowing and breathing in the mixed air of who knows what. It is a clean place though.

violentskies13

some Japanese are being courteous when they have a cold and wear the mask so they don't breathe their germs on you and infect you too. i haven't seen anyone do this for years, maybe 20 years, but some tough kids would wear the mask, thinking they were cool. there was even a video game where you fight and there's a bunch of high school onlookers and one of them wears a mask. i used to play it but have no idea what it was called.

Jamie M

basically the main reason is due to pollution on ground level. and with many of their cars and other forms of transport using desil, this has been shown to cause cancers. so better to be safe than sorry.

What you looking at ?

pollution and they don't where them in Europe cos it isn't as polluted.

S M

so they don't get SARS!

hi!

because its there tradition

JoeyJoeJoe

Because theyre **** ugly!

Nah it's because of SARS virus in hospitals i think, i remember seeing it on the news a couple of years ago but I think that was in China, could also be because of pollution because the Chinese love chucking out those greenhouse gases.

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