For allergy season, Japan turns to surgical masks

The main problem? Its the cedar tress!!!! Do something about them. Then we could all cut down on wearing masks.

Masks are warm, damp places. Ideal for germs to grow...

Parents blamed us teachers for not separating them enough while they were eating and for making them take off their masks while they were singing. Go figure

You should have made them keep on their masks while they were eating.

counter intuitive it may be but to to build an effective immune system you must expose it to germs and irritants not protect it from infection..this is the way all vaccines work, low level exposure..it is as true for cedar pollen as it was for small pox originally.

Japanese Heaven is a place where people don white masks and queue up for eternity.

I actually think wearing those masks is quite cool. It merely shows other people that you have respect towards them. I'd wear them too in case of allergies.

Where I work (a preschool), the masks really do not do a whole lot of good. Neither did gargling every 30 minutes of the day. Last year, I kid you not, kids wore masks to school EVERYDAY, we gargled, washed hands, set the humidity up to 60%, ventilated, disinfected, you name it. Most of the kids still got sick! Half the class got the flu.

Did they disinfect their desks after eating? Tons of germs right there.

"As for why people might use masks... for the life of me, no one here covers their mouth when the cough" oh you mean like what western people do? put their fist or open palm in front of their face when they cough. yeah thats really effective!

I'm Western and cough and sneeze into my elbow. It's the new etiquette. Sheesh!

It's the year 2009 AD, and half the population of Japan wears surgical masks. If I suffered from pollen allergy, I would definitely do something about all these cedar trees.

Where I work (a preschool), the masks really do not do a whole lot of good. Neither did gargling every 30 minutes of the day. Last year, I kid you not, kids wore masks to school EVERYDAY, we gargled, washed hands, set the humidity up to 60%, ventilated, disinfected, you name it. Most of the kids still got sick! Half the class got the flu. Parents blamed us teachers for not separating them enough while they were eating and for making them take off their masks while they were singing. Go figure

Masks are not a bad idea. I wish this custom would become popular in the US. I work at a desk and have been sneezed and coughed on so much that it is a wonder that I am still here. Every time some one coughs or sneezes in my direction, I hope and pray that they do not have TB.

Masks make people look like monsters.

Allergy season my foot, it's fear of swine flu. I always thought the mask thing in Japan was funny, my first instinct is to get as far away as possible from anyone with a mask...hack hack

yep and it shouldn't take too long to cut "scores" down either

I've done the Q-tip and saline bit, I also paint my throat (if it's sore) with Isojin. I only started having allergies two or three years ago, I'm still getting the hang of dealing with them, but the mask this year was a tremendous help, although dasai...

Himajin: Even though you take the medication, I don't think it's a bad idea to limit the amount of pollen and kousa you suck in. Why push it? I wore a mask this year a had a much better time of it, my symptoms actually cleared up faster.I was symptomatic less than a week.

Agreed. Expecting medication to solve all your problems is just asking for trouble.

For the first time in my life I had serious trouble with the sugi pollen this year. I once had an itchy eye that swelled up for me rubbing it, but that was 17 years ago. My solution? Cleaning out the inside of my nose with saline and q-tips, brushing off and coating my nosehairs will olive oil, and stop over-trimming my nose hairs because I was. Nosehairs are your natural filtering system. I also got some fine black sponge, like is used for sponge paint brushes, and cut them to fit snug in my nostrils (almost invisible). I had limited success with those, but I started late and had not worked myself into habits, like breathing through my nose only, enough to make it really work. I also did not wear them all the time. Overall though I think my condition improved from my first bad reactions and I got over it all faster than other allergy sufferers. Next year, I will be ready.

But really, the Japanese government needs to stop fooling around and get those over-planted sugi trees cut until the natural population of the things is regained.

hand washing has nothing to do with allergies. pollen enters the body through mouth and nose as folks breath. A mask can reduce the amount of pollen entering the body.

I tried those masks once, but they kept steaming up my glasses. Waste of time and money. Hand washing is much more critical.

Id rather bleed from my eyes than wear those gumby things.

Even though you take the medication, I don't think it's a bad idea to limit the amount of pollen and kousa you suck in. Why push it? I wore a mask this year a had a much better time of it, my symptoms actually cleared up faster.I was symptomatic less than a week.

As is the case with the Japanese business community, masks are also an easy commodity to rip off money from consumers. I ,for one appreciate it very much that people wear masks in Japan. Wearing masks may not be 100% effective for minimising the spread of germs but it is helpful to a great extent. But I don't want to think that it is because the Japanese have more civic sense or anything like that. If that were the case, they would do something about their favorite past time and entertainment that is making the rest of the world laugh at them. Where is their civic sense when they display Jporn and ads for love hotels even at places where the young children are around.

Wrong. It is not about helping anynone not to get sick. It is about being in conformity and not having a chance of being a accused of not following the rules.

"As for why people might use masks... for the life of me, no one here covers their mouth when the cough"

oh you mean like what western people do? put their fist or open palm in front of their face when they cough. yeah thats really effective!

I am a messy alergy prone Chinese American, so I obviously thought this was a joke.

Gotta love how the AP blurs the line between "news" and "history". Allergy season and masks may have been news in February, but cedar pollen season is already over!

Oh, and spudman, thanks for the helpful wikipedia cut-and-paste, but I thought pseudoephedrine was illegal in Japan?

you mean claratin. not cheap so you can get the generic anti histamine for about 10% the cost. from wiki Loratadine is a drug used to treat allergies, and marketed for its non-sedating properties. It is marketed by Schering-Plough and Shionogi in Japan under several trade names such as Claritin, Claritin-D, Claritine, Clarityn, Clarityne or Fristamin depending on the market; by Cadila as Lorfast; by Lek as Lomilan or Flonidan; by Sandoz as Symphoral; by Ranbaxy as Roletra; by Pliva as Rinolan; by Teva as AllergyX; by Wyeth as Alavert; and by Pharma International as Tidilor[1]. It is also available as a generic. In a version marketed as Claritin-D or Clarinase, loratadine is combined with pseudoephedrine, a decongestant; this makes it somewhat useful for colds as well as allergies, but adds potential side-effects of insomnia, nervousness and

Visit the doctor people. There is a really good allergy medicine here in Japan called ( クラリチン　レディタブ１０ ) No need to suffer.

As for why people might use masks... for the life of me, no one here covers their mouth when the cough. Swine flu will spread like wildfire once it arrives here. Trains all locked up air tight, just wait and see.