Coming to Japan in early March, I arrived to sea of moon faces and sterile medical masks. For the first month I was living in Japan I always wondered why the Japanese wore those damn medical masks. It reminded me of the SARs outbreak from way back when. It reminded me of this beautiful woman.
(I just wanted to use this photo)
Months later I found out that the damn near 50% of the Japanese population suffer from Hay Fever and terrible allergies thus the reason for the sea of stupid medical masks. I suffer from asthma and terrible pollen-ous days in America damn near kill me... but here in Japan a regular pollen day has no affect on me.
The pollen plague apparently stems from the 70s and 80s (or maybe the 60s and 70s). I'm no history major but I was told that during Japan's economic boom (post-WWII) construction began rapidly increasing. The Japanese chose the Japanese Cedar and Japanese Cypress tree to fuel the construction boom and with it they sealed their fates. During the months of February-March winds carry the pollen from these trees throughout Japan.
I'm not sure if there is anything else in the air, but whatever there is it makes for one fucking dusty ass house. Now I'm not blaming it entirely on Japan, as I've been known to shed quite a few skin cells and hair (more so than most normal people I think); However, there is no reason for the following photos below.
I'm not sure if there is anything else in the air, but whatever there is it makes for one fucking dusty ass house. Now I'm not blaming it entirely on Japan, as I've been known to shed quite a few skin cells and hair (more so than most normal people I think); However, there is no reason for the following photos below.
These before and after photos are from only a day of not cleaning... No that is not hair, nor is it food crumbs; it's dust and other shit that magically floats in through the windows. Notice the entirety of my household too.. The photo was taken, by accident, in the same spot. Photo one faces the balcony and photo two faces the door; that is the entirety of my place. WTF Japan.
But don't despair peoples there is a shinning light through all of this... and that's the boogers!!
If you're a picker like I am then you're going to have tons of fun each morning with bad boys like these:
Same nostril =D
Welcome to Japan! Happy digging!
I'm so very very happy someone agrees with me after 7 years of walking round thinking "wtf Japan?" and having to listen to everyone telling me constantly how clean the place is, just because there's no crisp packets on the floor. There are different kinds of 'clean' and Japan does not cut the bloody mustard as far as I'm concerned.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't get me started on hanging futons over dirty balconies and then complaining about mattresses being unhygienic.
ReplyDeleteAND when I went to Saigon, my stuffy nose (I've got nasal problems) were far far better, so anyone here that wants to tell me how dusty it is can shove that fact up their arses.
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