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VANITY: What is the deal with all of those Asians running around with surgical face masks on?

Posted on 05/15/2019 6:20:06 AM PDT by mowowie

I see these people everywhere in pics and in person.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: bellcurve
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To: Junk Silver

1. If Japanese people have colds or other illness they’ll wear this type of mask to avoid infecting others.

A really good idea.
Kind of like honoring your elders and taking your shoes off when you enter a home.

There’s some pretty strange stuff about Japanese society, for sure, but there are things to admire there, too.


21 posted on 05/15/2019 6:28:58 AM PDT by Pravious
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To: mowowie

I just read an article that it all started with a SARS outbreak.


22 posted on 05/15/2019 6:29:09 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to says)
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To: ArtDodger

And yet Asians are still getting sick. If the masks worked they’d have made the common cold extinct by now.


23 posted on 05/15/2019 6:29:28 AM PDT by bgill (when you badmouth women, you are badmouthing your mama and the good women on FR)
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To: rightwingcrazy

I read some guys story that as an American in Japan it is impossible for him to make friends.
Even the Japanese themselves don’t talk to each other..


24 posted on 05/15/2019 6:29:49 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: All

The purpose is to control spreading of germs. Health insurance.


25 posted on 05/15/2019 6:30:34 AM PDT by Retvet (Retvet)
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To: mowowie

I wish we would have that custom here. There’s nothing like being sneezed on by someone with a bad cold...

(btw, I think the idea was introduced into Japan after the 1922 earthquake, by US medical aid workers.)


26 posted on 05/15/2019 6:31:19 AM PDT by CondorFlight
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To: mowowie
Were they also wearing sunglasses? If so, they were probably Michael Jackson impersonators.


27 posted on 05/15/2019 6:31:30 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: mowowie

Usually they are protecting others. They themselves have a cold or cough and don’t want to spread the germs.


28 posted on 05/15/2019 6:31:31 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: mowowie
It is part of the uniform like Mohamit women covering every inch.
29 posted on 05/15/2019 6:32:05 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: ArtDodger

The air quality in China is very bad. China doesn’t have an EPA cracking down on polluters.

The cities in Asia are very densely populated. Personal space is very constricted. Contagion is a real threat.


30 posted on 05/15/2019 6:35:13 AM PDT by DeplorablePaul (s)
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To: bgill

“And yet Asians are still getting sick. If the masks worked they’d have made the common cold extinct by now.”

Doctors wear the masks in operating rooms and patients still get sick and get infections. Therefore, according to this thinking, one would be ok with undergoing an operation without anyone in the room wearing a mask. Or washing hands or sterilizing equipment.
Drastic examples, I know. But could it be that the mask wearers politely help society just a little bit?


31 posted on 05/15/2019 6:37:20 AM PDT by ArtDodger
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To: Sgt_Schultze

It seemed the most logical, and appears to match the majority of replies.

But you’re right; I should have chosen one like #13.


32 posted on 05/15/2019 6:37:30 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia (Democrats: The perfect party for the helpless and stupid, and those who would rule over them.)
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To: mowowie

Even here in Salem Oregon. Especially at my gym. It’s weird. But hey whatever floats their boat.


33 posted on 05/15/2019 6:39:30 AM PDT by Tamatoa (Fight for our America, Fight for our Country I fought to defend!!!)
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To: pepsionice

face masks were commonplace in the 1950s in Yokohama...


34 posted on 05/15/2019 6:39:44 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: Sgt_Schultze

#4 is the correct answer. I have lived and traveled in Asia since the Mid 60s.


35 posted on 05/15/2019 6:40:03 AM PDT by kabar
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Gosh, I love the folks here on FR!
Other posts also noted that people wear the masks in heavy pollution.
Being a farmer, when I am mowing, I wear the masks to prevent an asthma attack from gunk in the air.


36 posted on 05/15/2019 6:40:32 AM PDT by ArtDodger
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To: DCBryan1
Etiquette, politeness, and honor.

Yes, all part of the mix. IIRC, in much of Asia, blowing your nose into a linen handkerchief in public and then neatly folding the handkerchief and returning it to your pocket is viewed with disgust - a major cultural faux pas. In fact, it's offensive to blow your nose, yawn, or even clear your throat except in private. I've seen 'em spit on the sidewalk without any hesitation, though (maybe that was a message aimed at me?)

37 posted on 05/15/2019 6:40:53 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Progressives are the crab grass in the lawn of life.)
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To: mowowie
Air pollution.

-PJ

38 posted on 05/15/2019 6:41:54 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too (The 1st Amendment gives the People the right to a free press, not CNN the right to the 1st question.)
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To: mowowie

It’s a courtesy on the part of the under-the-weather wearer. I’d like to see it catch on with the rest of us.


39 posted on 05/15/2019 6:42:04 AM PDT by dead (Our next president is going to be sooooo boring.)
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To: mowowie
There was a time 15 or so years ago when there was an outbreak of something called SARS in Asia and primarily China. Everybody wore those surgical masks then. I guess many still do.

I have some Blu-rays of Christian Thielemann conducting the Brahms symphonies with the Dresden Staatskapelle from about 5 years ago. For symphonies 1 and 3, they were performing on tour in Tokyo. When the camera shows the audience, many are wearing those surgical masks; so I guess the entire Asian area does it.

I visited my doctor in March and was diagnosed with the Flu. When she came back into the office with the diagnosis, she was wearing one of those masks and brought one for me to put on. They are probably a good idea during communicable respiratory disease season.

40 posted on 05/15/2019 6:43:03 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte (If it weren't for fake hate crimes, there would be no hate crimes at all.)
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