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With the coronavirus pandemic coinciding with hay fever season in Japan, a nationwide shortage of face masks has been going on for the last few months. In response, many companies that weren’t previously in the mask-making business have entered the sector, and one of them is Saga Prefecture’s Sagasiki.
Sagasiki’s mask was developed using the company’s expertise from years in the paper goods industry. However, Sagasiki’s standard product lineup doesn’t use the gauzy material used by most face masks, but heavier paper used for boxes and product packaging, and the application of that experience has led to this.
Sagasiki calls it the Hacode Guard (coming from the Japanese word hako/”box”). It’s not so much a mask as it is a helmet, covering everything from the top of your head down to your shoulders.
Made of a single piece of paper, there are no staples, straps, or interlocking tabs, though the company’s photos suggest that it recommends using the Hacode Guard in conjunction with a standard mask.
But while it’s essentially a box you wear on your head, the Hacode Guard isn’t entirely rectangular. The front surface is actually curved so as to provide better visibility through the clear film that serves as the wearer’s window to the world.
▼ The fit is secure enough to keep the Hacode Guard in place even as you lean forward.
Sagasiki and its Tokyo-based partner Amazing Day have already been donating the Hacode Guard to medical facilities in Saga and Tokyo, and now the companies have begun offering them to the general public online here, where a box of 100 of the single-use masks are available for 17,600 yen. They’ll also become available through other online market places next month, though it’s still unknown in what quantities.
Source: PR Times
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© SoraNews24
18 Comments
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mitoguitarman
Looks like wedding regalia
that person
This is a great incentive to stay home. No. Way.
Serrano
This is the new norm. Get used to it.
Luddite
Nice and sweaty in the summer, as well as making you look like a right idiot.
InspectorGadget
Why pay for a cake box, when you can use a Heineken box . . . .
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/04/supermarket-shopper-uses-heineken-beer-box-as-face-mask.html
Brian Wheway
I can see some sort of benefits, but I can't see it catching on, but wait! could this be a new cosplay outfit/uniform?? could this be a the new box bird to the rescue, could this be the next super hero ?? and what happens when it rains whilst your out side?
spinningplates
A) why does it require so much surface area?
B) the mask is redundant; the box is the mask.
Nippori Nick
Looks like something out of a cheap sci fi movie in the 50s or 60s
BertieWooster
Needs a little fan or a/c unit like the jackets builders wear.
GW
This head gear reminds me of a cartoon I watched as a kid..... HERCULES!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx4kxssPURU
Check of the character MASK!!!
kurisupisu
I’d wear one on the train any day!
Just in case some ignorant individuals want to cough in your face!
Luddite
What’s on the end of the stick, Vic?
The Man With The Stick sings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-J-cSnhkkI
Brian Wheway
@ludite, just seen that clip, jeees, talk about tone deaf. it was cereal, At first I thought was it a sick joke about the KKK.
starpunk
The fashion gods keep on coming up with ways to con you out of your money.