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The history of hay fever in Japan is intrinsically linked to the Cryptomeria japonica. But to lay all the blame on the Japanese cedar tree misses some interesting parts of a story of the fortunes of modern living.
Japanese people often refer to hay fever as the national illness, or kokuminbyo (国民病). About a quarter of the population is estimated to suffer from it. That compares to just 8 percent of adults in the U.S., where it is simply referred to as a pollen allergy.
It wasn’t always this way. Hay fever was first reported here in 1964, the year of the Tokyo Olympic Games, when the nation sought to showcase its recovery from World War II defeat. Large pollen volumes in 1976, and again in 1979, promptly boosted the number of hay fever sufferers, and, as we entered the 1980s, the ailment was affecting so many people that it was regarded as a social problem.
The curse of the Japanese cedar
Around 60 types of plants in Japan are recognized as causing hay fever, but by far the worst culprit – provoking symptoms such as sneezing, sore eyes, runny noses and more in a whopping 70 percent of sufferers – is the native cedar tree, or sugi (杉).
Despite its current role as the bad guy of Japanese hay fever, the cedar was a savior, of sorts, in post-WWII Japan when it was used to reforest mountains throughout the country that had been stripped bare by excessive logging during and after the war for use as fuel and lumber. Those treeless mountainsides had led to huge disasters and fatalities, particularly landslides, but the government-funded planting of the fast-growing cedars prevented any consequent large-scale damage.
Light, versatile, highly disease resistant, and due to its pencil-straight trunks, easy to process, cedar was also seen as the best choice for use as timber when demand for housing materials skyrocketed. In line with rapid growth in the Japanese economy following the government’s 10-year plan — a policy project launched in 1961 to boost the nominal national income — some natural diversified forest areas were also replanted with cedar.
As a result, even now, of the roughly 70 percent of the Japanese land mass that is covered in forest, around 40 percent is manmade according to the Japanese Forestry Agency. Artificially planted cedar forests make up 18 percent of the nation’s forests, while artificial native cypress trees, or hinoki (檜), make up around 10 percent. The unluckiest cedar hay fever sufferers also develop an allergy to cypress pollen, too.
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22 Comments
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jcapan
An astonishing figure. You really have to work extremely hard in Japan to find wilderness that hasn't been landscaped like a lumberman's zen garden. Not to mention all the concrete in even the remotest areas.
JeffLee
Kids growing up and playing on concrete - as opposed to grass or other plants underneath soil -- puts their their immune systems into overdrive, with hayfever the result. There are children's parks in Tokyo where literally every square millimeter is covered in concrete.
For example, I once considered skip roping for fitness. You need to have a soft surface to prevent damaging your feet. I went looking for one in my Tokyo neighborhood and the nearest was hundreds of meters away. 99% of the ground, I noticed, is concrete-covered. That ain't natural.
A double whammy, since the pollen bounces off the concrete and floats around instead of clinging to plants and earth.
Bugle Boy of Company B
What do you recommend? Starting massive forest fires?
Do the hustle
While I understand there has been a large increase in the pollen producing trees, I also believe there has been an increase in hypersensitivity to the pollen due to lifestyle changes.
Boni Wa Alakonya
Yesterday a dude sneezed a lung.
kyronstavic
Pretty cool image, looks a bit like a black hole sucking trees into its vortex.
I used to get really bad allergies the first few years of living in Japan, but a friend put me onto rooibos tea. After drinking a cup or two daily in the 6 months leading up to the next hay fever season, the allergy almost disappeared. Worth a try if you haven't already.
madmanmunt
The medical industry makes billions of dollars off of this illness. Plant the disease outside the city, the disease floats into the city, people get sick, and as a result, BOOM -- dozens of medical products and advertising campaigns emerge to help mitigate the issues of the illness.
It's a manufactured ponzi scheme.
thepersoniamnow
They planted the wrong trees in the forest and gave everyone hayfever.
Chop em down and start again and use the wood to build the refugees and immigrants needed cheap homes.
Hello Kitty 321
Diesel exhaust has also contributed to the rise in hayfever sufferers.
zatoizugoodo
Basically the sugi forests are scars leftover from Japan’s ‘appreciation’ of nature. They are nearly void of any animals and birds with the exception of wild boar.
ClippetyClop
According to the "What shall we do about it?" multiple choice survey released by Tokyo Met in 2016, the top answers were
1) Govt research for a cure
2) Reduce pollen by felling & trimming trees
3) More information about hayfever forecasts & prevention.
I'll bet my last dollar that one of the options wasn't "Fell all the sugi trees and replace with natural forests". That is the only surefire solution to this problem, but it will never happen.
Agreed, they are largely sterile places and they cover enormous areas of the country. it's an absolute tragedy that alone makes my eyes itch.
ClippetyClop
Not really, it contains a natural antihistamine called Quercin or something like that. I know a few locals who say it helps them immensely.
I agree that it doesn't taste that great though. Smells like a wet horse.
Open Minded
Are the pharma planting these trees?
No!
ClippetyClop
So it could be effective during the pollen season I suppose, if indeed it does have those properties. Might not be the quackery you first imagined it to be.
madmanmunt
But which lobby would be the first to complain if measures were put forward to reduce the plantation of Cedar trees? Well, the medical lobby, obviously.
Also, it gives bureaucrats something to brag about.
What, pray tell?
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!
ClippetyClop
I was giving you a way out of your original mistake. Sorry you couldn't see that. I won't be as kind this time; Antihistamines don't just exist in pills.