Masks

06/02/2002 English German

Edition # 40
San Francisco, 06-02-2002

Japan, Finally Aircraft as Arcade Tokyo Gastronomy Tokyo Fish Market Masks Beverages Beer Paper tissues Shuwattchi! Fashion Safety Technophilia Shinkansen Japanese speaking English Busy Bodies Rambunctious Youth Surveyed by Students Geishas Original and American knockoff Consumer Frenzy Japanese toilets Bicycles in Tokyo Train station in Tokyo Uniforms Taxis To Bow Shoes Off and Shoes On Hiroshima Ryokan Japanese Bath In the temple for AOL Koya-San Cemetery in Koya-San

Masks

Michael In Japan's big cities, you often encounter people wearing white face masks. At first, I thought: Aha, a case of tuberculosis. Let's keep a wide berth. But after the tenth person, I revised my opinion and concluded that the hospital masks are worn because of air pollution. Although Tokyo isn't excessively smoggy, there is a bit of smog. The poster in illustration 2 even promotes the idea that children should wear masks.

Figure [1]: Masks in traffic

Figure [2]: Masks for children

(Note: Thanks to reader Olaf from Berlin for the correction that face masks are worn when one has a cold (to avoid infecting coworkers/customers) and for pollen allergies. The poster with the masked children is part of a local campaign against illegally adulterated diesel fuel with kerosene or heavy oil.)