My understanding is that there are two reasons for this practice:
1. If Japanese people have colds or other illness they’ll wear this type of mask to avoid infecting others.
2. These masks are worn in large Chinese cities to mitigate the extreme air pollution.
Pretty common here as well.
Lots of people riding motorcycles, totally wrapped up. Especially ladies.
1. If Japanese people have colds or other illness they’ll wear this type of mask to avoid infecting others.
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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.
Wearing masks to prevent the spread of diseases makes sense. But wearing a surgical mask to mitigate air pollution is dumb. Unless the air pollution consists of large dust particles, the masks are useless for that purpose.
These masks are worn in large Chinese cities to mitigate the extreme air pollution.
But, during the Beijing Olympics, officials denied there was air pollution there. They said that Beijing is subjected to periods of “mist” and “fog” but not pollution.
Of course, a totalitarian government such as China’s can say such things and not be challenged.