Masking in Japan in 2023

 

I went to Japan over the holidays, where I felt at times like I’d been thrust back into the bowels of 2020, a place I feel no one should ever want to go, but I admit that I should not have been as surprised as I was.

Japan has tighter requirements for entry for foreigners than many other countries in Asia.  The government maintained a restrictive Visa requirement into October 2022.  This is gone now, but for entry in 2023, one must still show either proof of “full vaccination,” which includes at least one booster (three shots), or a PCR test within 72 hours of one’s arrival in the country.

This is, by the way, less stringent in some ways than the rules posted for people flying into the United States, as all non-citizens on flights to the good ol’ land of the free, home of the brave, must show proof of vaccination—no PCR test option available—with only a few exceptions.  (I have never said US policies are driven by logic).

Regardless, once through the customs gauntlet of Japan, I found the Japanese themselves aren’t just into vaccines.  They are still heavily invested in wearing masks in all public spaces, including in parks and on sidewalks.

Per the state in which I live, this was really wild to me.  Masks are not even required at my doctor’s office anymore, and I haven’t owned one in months and months and months.

Of course, I admit while I was in Japan, I was only asked to don a mask myself at a tiny number of attractions: a national palace, an art museum, an aquarium, and a Buddhist temple.  For the most part, the Japanese leave the gaijin (outsiders) completely alone, and I would never voluntarily play along with the Covid costuming unless a request was directly extended to me to wear a mask when going into a building.  Then I’d shrug and take the piece of paper offered to me because… well… Japan is not my country.  There are no traditions of freedom and nonconformity in this island nation.  This is a place with signs that request “modest talking” in restaurants and on trains with strong implications that even whispers might be too loud unless there is an emergency… like someone needs CPR or something.  So I discovered these people do not make me angry in the same way as Americans clinging to Covid hysteria often do, especially since I understand that masks have been a part of Asian culture that long precedes a pandemic.  I hold people from other countries to a different standard, I guess, and I am from a part of the world where being polite is poured into children as much as sweet tea, so when in Tokyo….

That said, when I went skiing in Nagano, I truly felt I’d fallen through the looking glass.  Almost every person there who was Asian was masked up for Covid, yet a glance around at the people made me feel like I was revisiting my childhood in the 1970s, during which I spent a great deal of time enjoying ski slopes in California back when California was still a paradise.

Can you guess what absurdity I observed that made me laugh?

The vast majority of Asian skiers/snowboarders I saw barreling down tree-lined runs at high speeds while strapped to what are essentially sticks on their feet were “protected” against a virus that doesn’t transmit in cold temperatures in the wild, yet they weren’t wearing helmets on their noggins.

Go figure.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I absolutely believe in the right of individuals to make personal risk assessments in every situation, including on mountains, but this particular juxtaposition of chosen “safety gear” was a bit jarring.

Regardless, Japan is a gorgeous nation, and this wasn’t my first (or last) trip to the Land of the Rising Sun. However, if showing vaccination records and wearing masks and observing intellectual inconsistencies bother you, you may want to opt instead (for just a wee while longer) for tickets to Thailand.

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  1. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    People in many parts of southeast Asia (including Japan) were routinely wearing masks long before Covid, especially during winter flu season, so current mask-wearing is not necessarily Covid-specific.

    In several pre-COVID visits to Beijing I saw numerous fellow commuters wearing masks.  I attributed it to concerns about catching the flu and breathing the polluted air.  

    • #31
  2. Ray Kujawa Coolidge
    Ray Kujawa
    @RayKujawa

    I have been reading English translations of Japanese manga since the 1990’s, but I saw something in a recent volume that I never expected. When shooting movies or TV for American and British audiences, they have, through the Covid ‘pandemic,’ managed to avoid depicting in a fictional setting people wearing masks or otherwise being under Covid restrictions. But in the most recent volume of Mao by Rumiko Takahashi — a tale of a modern middle/high schooler who acquires the ability to travel between the modern present and the Taisho era (1920’s) Japan — the author took a page depicting characters in the present day (noted as occurring during “May 2020”) living with Covid restrictions, wearing masks and complaining because of being unable to attend first and last days of the school years with their friends. It wasn’t polemical, it was just an illustration about how all eras have their problems (in the 1920’s, the character works with a skilled doctor who is also an exorcist).

    • #32
  3. Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr. Coolidge
    Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr.
    @BartholomewXerxesOgilvieJr

    This is timely … just yesterday I came across this piece: Japan Looks To Unmask.

    I think the headline is a bit overstated, but it does sound like there is some (very) minimal movement in the right direction. I’m heartened to see that the writer, who is Japanese, is herself tired of masks and concerned for their effect on her kids. I found this particularly alarming:

    My oldest is seven years old, and he’s gotten so used to wearing a mask he’ll sometimes refuse to take it off as he’s embarrassed to show his face to other people.

    I think it’s going to be a while before we really understand the extent of the social and developmental damage that has been done to a whole generation of children.

    Anyway, I think the writer of the piece is right to be pessimistic about how soon the public attitude toward masks will shift, but it’s encouraging to know that there are at least some Japanese who recognize that it is a problem and are starting to think about how to fix it.

    • #33
  4. Lois Lane Coolidge
    Lois Lane
    @LoisLane

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    People in many parts of southeast Asia (including Japan) were routinely wearing masks long before Covid, especially during winter flu season, so current mask-wearing is not necessarily Covid-specific.

    In several pre-COVID visits to Beijing I saw numerous fellow commuters wearing masks. I attributed it to concerns about catching the flu and breathing the polluted air.

    Well… China is very polluted.  :)  You would find Japanese people with masks on every visit I’ve made, too, but only when they were ill, and thus there was never a high number of people with them on… until now.  

    • #34
  5. Lois Lane Coolidge
    Lois Lane
    @LoisLane

    Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr. (View Comment):

    This is timely … just yesterday I came across this piece: Japan Looks To Unmask.

    Anyway, I think the writer of the piece is right to be pessimistic about how soon the public attitude toward masks will shift, but it’s encouraging to know that there are at least some Japanese who recognize that it is a problem and are starting to think about how to fix it.

    What’s interesting to me here is that some states in the US have been more relentless with kids than Japan.  I saw kids with masks on their faces but rarely younger than school age in Tokyo.  Toddlers were barefaced and beautiful on the trains and everywhere else,  which was not the case in some parts of CA, even though Japanese parents covered their faces.  (I roll my eyes so far they go into the back of my head when I see a kid with a mask in the US b/c I know that kid is either being made to wear it or being poisoned with fear, which isn’t… uh… great parenting).  Shots are also not required for Japanese kids.

    Next, I was never, ever, evvveeeerrrr told off in Japan, and I did not wear a mask unless asked to do so to enter an establishment.  And I was always asked in a super polite way, even though the young lady at the aquarium seemed a little put out when I said I didn’t have a mask, as she then had to open a package from under a counter to provide me with one if I was going to buy a ticket to go inside.  This told me that there are people who show up with no masks.  (I’m pretty sure those people are mostly Westerners).  I simply took one from her, said “arigato,” and got on with my day.  I can’t say I wore that mask above my nose the entire time, but then a lot of Japanese people–especially with glasses–fall down on that one, too, which is confusing because they still play along.

    Then again, I was pretty immune to social pressures from my fellow Americans in my own country, so maybe I didn’t notice dirty looks if someone flashed them at me in Asia????

    I actually think there’s a belief that people who look like me–who aren’t Japanese–are put into a different category when looking at expected behaviors.  Foreigners are suspected of being the source of many bad things, so what can you expect from foreigners????  That said, I hope foreigners actually help the Japanese get over their fears.  Can you imagine living in masks forever??????  How depressing!

    I have faith they’ll come around,  but ladies like the writer of the article have to stand their ground and keep their masks off when others try to shame them, yes?  That kind of change really has to happen internally.

    • #35
  6. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    The public masking requirements in Korea end today, but we still have to wear them on buses and the subway. Boo.

    • #36
  7. Lois Lane Coolidge
    Lois Lane
    @LoisLane

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    The public masking requirements in Korea end today, but we still have to wear them on buses and the subway. Boo.

    I agree.  Boo.  Of course, in Japan I will say that masks are “required” on public transport, but “required” really means “highly suggested” as there are no laws or enforcement mechanisms.  (It really is a social pressure campaign).  I wonder if the same is true in Korea?  I mean, do people enforce masks there??? 

    • #37
  8. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    Lois Lane (View Comment):

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    The public masking requirements in Korea end today, but we still have to wear them on buses and the subway. Boo.

    I agree. Boo. Of course, in Japan I will say that masks are “required” on public transport, but “required” really means “highly suggested” as there are no laws or enforcement mechanisms. (It really is a social pressure campaign). I wonder if the same is true in Korea? I mean, do people enforce masks there???

    My Korean friends can “let the mask slip” from time to time, but yeah I have no doubt they will enforce the rule, especially if you are a foreigner.

    It’s also common to see people cover their masks with their hands or walk quickly away from foreigners or those without masks. Koreans acknowledge this fear, which mainly persists in the over 40 crowd.

    • #38
  9. Lois Lane Coolidge
    Lois Lane
    @LoisLane

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    Lois Lane (View Comment):

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    The public masking requirements in Korea end today, but we still have to wear them on buses and the subway. Boo.

    I agree. Boo. Of course, in Japan I will say that masks are “required” on public transport, but “required” really means “highly suggested” as there are no laws or enforcement mechanisms. (It really is a social pressure campaign). I wonder if the same is true in Korea? I mean, do people enforce masks there???

    My Korean friends can “let the mask slip” from time to time, but yeah I have no doubt they will enforce the rule, especially if you are a foreigner.

    It’s also common to see people cover their masks with their hands or walk quickly away from foreigners or those without masks. Koreans acknowledge this fear, which mainly persists in the over 40 crowd.

    Wow!  That is worse than Japan then.  I will definitely skip Korea for a while.  ;)

    • #39
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