By Casey Baseel
Like kimono and T-shirts with English writing (sometimes vulgar,
sometimes comical, always unintelligible), the number of people you’ll
see in Japan wearing
surgical masks is pretty
surprising. Sure, Japan is a hard working society, and the spread of
productivity-sapping sickness is always a concern at schools and
workplaces, but that doesn’t seem like reason enough for the
proliferation of facial coverings that sometimes has Tokyo offices
looking more like an operating room.
Health concerns are only part of the equation, though, as recent studies have revealed multiple
reasons people in Japan wear masks that have nothing to do with hygiene.
Until recently, masks were
primarily worn by people who had already come down with an illness.
If you were feeling under the weather but couldn’t take the day off,
common courtesy dictated that you cover your mouth and nose with a mask,
so as not to breathe your germs all over you class or office mates or
fellow commuters.
Things started changing in 2003, though, when
medical supply maker Unicharm released a new type of mask specifically designed for hay fever sufferers.
Until that point, most masks had been made of cotton, with an inner
pouch into which gauze was placed. After taking off the mask users threw
out the gauze, washed the cotton mask for reuse, and restuffed the
pocket.
Unicharm’s anti-hay fever masks, though, were made of non-woven
material, which was more effective in blocking pollen. They were also
completely disposable and could be cheaply bought in bulk. This new type
of mask was a game changer, and business research firm Fuji Keizai now
says non-woven masks account for 86 percent of the market today.
The introduction of these cheap, easier-to-use masks also made it more practical to
wear one in order to prevent getting sick in the first place.
Commuting in Japan often means spending an hour or more pressed up
against your fellow passengers on a train or bus, and not everyone has
the good manners to put down their smartphone and cover their mouth when
they cough or sneeze.
Sales figures show that
use of masks has more than tripled over the last decade,
with particularly large spikes caused by influenza outbreak fears in
2009 and worries over micro particulate matter following the earthquake
and nuclear accident of 2011.
Estimates for fiscal year 2013 value Japan’s mask market at 23.9 billion yen (US$229.8 million).
But as masks provoke less and less surprise,
some people are using them for purposes that have nothing to do with physical health.
One 46-year-old mother, who herself wears a mask every day in the
winter to prevent getting sick, says her high-school-age daughter wears
one for a completely different reason. “
She puts on a mask and sticks headphones in her ears so that people won’t bother her. It makes it harder for them to start talking to her.”
Juvenile psychologist Jun Fujikake has made simmilar
observations. “When we deal with others, we have to judge whether to do
things like smile or show anger,” he explains. “By wearing a mask, you
can prevent having to do that. The trend of wearing a mask to prevent
directly dealing with other may have roots in the current youth culture
in which many of them are more accustomed to communicating indirectly
through email and social media.”
▼ Kind of makes you miss the good old days, when kids didn’t need to rely on props or technology to show how sullen they were.
But the recent surge in masks’ popularity isn’t entirely the result
of a desire to give people the cold shoulder. On the contrary, an
increasing number of people are using masks because of their desire for
warmth.
Japan gets pretty chilly during the winter. Thankfully, the layered
look is definitely in, and as the temperature drops, you can bundle up
with tights, undershirts, sweaters, parkas, gloves, scarves, and caps.
One thing that’s hard to do, though, is keep your face warm.
Granted, you could always pick up a ski mask at the sporting goods
shop, but effectiveness aside, you’re going to get some strange looks
wearing one anywhere other than on the slopes. But since Japanese
society has already gotten used to people wearing surgical masks outside
of the hospital, you can safely put one on to keep your nose and cheeks
warm without attracting any attention.
▼ Having your glasses steam up is a small price to pay to keep your lips warm enough that you can move them.
Not only have masks become so commonplace that wearers aren’t seen as unattractive, some people are finding
fashion and beauty
uses for them. One professional model interviewed by reporters says she
often slips on a mask after washing off her makeup at the end of a
photo shoot, in order to keep her au naturel face hidden from the
public. Even women whose livelihood doesn’t depend on looking their best
at all times are finding
masks to be a handy for those times
when they need to dash out to run errands and don’t feel like spending a
half-hour putting on blush and lipstick first.
▼ This woman could have a moustache, for all we know.
Some people even see masks as a
fashionable accessory. An online search for
masuku bijin
or “beautiful masked girl” will bring up hundreds of results, and an
increasing number of companies are offering masks with floral, polka
dot, and even houndstooth patterns, not to mention
jet-black ninja-style masks for guys.
There’s even a mask whose seller claims it’ll help you
lose weight.
Cosmetics maker T-Garden
has jumped into the mask arena with its Flavor Mask. Not only does it
feature a pretty-in-pink design, each disposable mask comes infused with
the scent of raspberry, which T-Garden says will boost your metabolism.
We’re not entirely convinced about the scientific soundness of their
promise, and from an armchair psychology viewpoint, it seems like a
food-based fragrance is going to do more to ramp up your appetite than
your metabolism. Still, like any mask it should help prevent you from
passing a cold around, keep your face a little warmer, cut off unwanted
social interaction, and preclude the need to wear extensive makeup, none
of which is necessarily diminished by its calorie-burning quackery.
▼ If you absolutely have to buy snake oil, you may as well get the nicest-smelling kind.
Source: Yahoo! Japan
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Insert images: Seesaa, Blogspot, Loving Your Child, Nifty, Ameba, Ladypop, Amazon
