It’s February which means the hay fever season is upon us. Every year at this time, thousands of tons of cedar pollen swirls around Japan making life miserable for millions. The number of sufferers depends on who you ask but estimates range from 10% to 20% of people in Japan and that’s a lot of runny noses.
Business has been quick to cash in by providing a wide range of products designed to alleviate symptoms. These include antihistamine tablets, face masks, nose sprays and goggles which account for 20 billion yen in annual sales.
Why does Japan have so much cedar?
Between the 50s and 70s, around 4.5 million hectares of cedar trees were planted in an attempt to meet the growing need for construction materials. However, it eventually became more economical to import lumber from abroad making the cedar plantations obsolete. Even today as the forests mature the amount of cedar produced increases as do the number of hay fever sufferers. Apparently, even the monkeys are suffering. The cedar looks as if it is here to stay as government plans to reduce the plantations are not ambitious or well funded.
In the mean time the only course open to most people is to by whatever is on offer at the pharmacy and check out the pollen maps of Japan. Weathernews.jp has an excellent pollen map of Japan updated in real time. I’ll definitely be referring to it in the coming months. Wish me luck and plenty of chainsaws…
Some useful links:
General Facts on Hey Fever (Japan Times)
Hay Fever in Japan (What Japan Thinks)
Environmental Ministry Pollen Map
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