Why do Japanese people wear medical masks in public?

Hmm, I wonder if you could legitimately wear them to a protest…

“I swear officer, I just didn’t want to get anyone sick!”*

*only applicable in places where masks at protests are banned

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Rule 34 is not your friend. :grinning:

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These masks are extremely popular and several competing brands are typically sold at corner Seven Eleven or FamilyMart. They compete on functionality such as having a 3D plastic skeleton, super soft ear hooks, a bad smell catching layer, and so on, Typically they are for when you are already sick (you can cough without people in the office looking at you with dread/evil eye), feeling under the weather (so you don’t catch a cold), and mostly, for allergies. The popular ones say they cut 99.9% of PM2.5 particles from pollution and pollen and cut viruses too.

There is a huge (manmade I think) cedar forest near Tokyo that guarantees allergy suffering. They really work to reduce hay fever symptoms, but just by about half or 70% maybe. I sometimes notice attractive young women who seem to use them to walk around incognito, maybe they are models or just without makeup. I find they also make it easier to breathe without coughing on a rainy day or when dusting, so they are multipurpose!

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Guy Fawkes mouth-area-only masks may become a thing. But those Hitler ones could be hard to get.

As someone who has lived in Tokyo a long time and lived in NYC and been to London, I agree with @anon75430791

I wish! But in fact no. I have tried for years to get a gorilla suit in Tokyo

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My beard kept splaying out from the sides of them when I was in Japan to the great amusement of everyone who saw me. So I stopped wearing them.

I like this video because I can say, “I pooed in that building over there!”

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Out of interest, what genus of trees are you talking about?
I never met a person before allergic to Cedrus pollen, nor Pinus, Larix, Picea or Abies allergy sufferers. I just quickly looked around the web and saw that Juniperus apparently is known to cause allergies in at least one species from North America. Interesting, from a biological POV!

I saw someone at the London Anarchist bookfair with their face completely covered, with reflective goggles over their eyes.

Part of me wanted to talk to them about gait recognition, but I decided against it.

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I assume they mean Cupressus japonica (“Sugi” 杉). I found every spring my nose and eyes would become a watery mess when I was there. They’re generally viewed as pretty common sources of that sort of thing.

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@LutherBlisset @William_George sugi cedar trees are the problem

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Heh… take a handful of pebbles next time then break it to them gently.

You must not live near a Go Go Curry. (see a person in a gorilla about once a week.)

I’ve seen such but figure they were purchased from overseas

My local curry guy always dressed up like a luchadore.

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Lucky you!

Well, where else are we supposed to get our tribal good vibes from, than the strangeness of others? My friend: “My Dad went to Europe for vacation last year. Didn’t like it much. Said the place was overrun with damn foreigners.”

Usual angle of a German tourist: “Would have been nice if wouldn’t have met so many damn Germans. I don’t even mind their ridiculous outfit. But that they tell everybody how they should run the place is ridiculous!
However, the management clearly wasn’t up to the task. Otherwise they would have told those guys to sod off.”

Just got back from 3 weeks holiday in Japan, and was lucky to coincide with the annual Shōsō-in exhibition of treasures at the Nara National Museum. One of the items was a stone shakuhachi - called the jade shakuhachi, but actually made of marble. Very beautiful piece, in fact most of the exhibited pieces (all dating from around the 700’s) were in remarkably good shape.

http://www.narahaku.go.jp/english/exhibition/2017toku/shosoin/2017shosoin_e.html

http://www.narahaku.go.jp/exhibition/2017toku/shosoin/2017shosoin_index.html#tenjiku

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