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  • Today, I want to answer one of the most commonly asked questions in my four plus plus plus years... Plus plus plus?

  • ...of doing YouTube which is: "why do Japanese people wear masks?"

  • This is probably like my third most frequently asked question after like,

  • "Why did you learn Japanese?", "How did you get to Japan?", "What's your job in Japan?", etc.

  • Why do Japanese people wear masks?

  • Now, there are actually a bunch of reasons.

  • Right now it is spring in Japan,

  • although you can't really tell because it's been like snowing.

  • Snow and cherry blossoms.

  • And a lot of people here suffer from hay fever.

  • So in Spring, that is a big reason. You'll see people wearing masks, that's because a lot of Japanese people suffer from hay fever.

  • Like, really bad.

  • Like, in my friends there are a lot of people who suffer from hay fever.

  • Reason number two is reportedly the original reason people wore masks, and that's to do with sickness.

  • So if you are sick, you wear a mask.

  • It's kind of a way of protecting the people around you from catching the sickness.

  • Now, I mean there's argument as to how effective this is, but it is kind of a common courtesy

  • because people who are sick do tend to go into work, even though they're sick in Japan.

  • I mean, it's kind of like you just go in until you're told to go home because you're too sick to be there.

  • But that is how it tends to be done here.

  • So that is another main reason.

  • Another one connected to this is people will wear masks to prevent getting sick.

  • So prevention, uh, particularly on trains, airplanes shinkansen, the bullet trains, and places like that, people will wear masks to protect them from germs.

  • Whether or not it's effective, it is a main reason people do wear masks here.

  • And if you can imagine a very crowded Tokyo train and just all those germs flying around, it's enough to make anyone a little bit germphobic.

  • But there are other reasons for wearing masks, too.

  • One of them is disguise.

  • Probably this isn't something you guys will need to do but it is one of the reasons people wear masks, which is just a little extra disguised, particularly if they are celebrities.

  • And another reason is if you are not wearing makeup, it covers pretty much most of your face.

  • So if you're not wearing makeup, it's kind of like a lazy day method of covering your face with something else.

  • When you have a breakout, acne, spots — I just scratched myself, whoops.

  • Um, just you can put on your mask and cover them up.

  • And I'm not going to lie, I've done that before.

  • Another reason that has definitely been debated about online is social anxiety.

  • Like maybe you don't want people to approach you or talk to you.

  • Or maybe you're just not feeling confident so you can cover up your face and feel a little bit more secure.

  • And I can definitely see how this would work being shy myself.

  • And another reason I found while researching this video was warmth.

  • People wear it for warmth.

  • And I thought about that and I was like, "Really?"

  • But then I thought about how cold it gets in Winter and I can totally understand especially when you're walking outside.

  • It's very cold, dry air outside.

  • So warmth is another reason.

  • I hope that answered the question for you.

  • Why do Japanese people wear masks?

  • Recently masks are even becoming more and more of a fashion accessory.

  • You can buy black masks.

  • They're quite popular in Harajuku in the moment.

  • You can buy, uh, like funny masks with little pictures on them.

  • And you can buy kind of pastel-colored masks.

  • And you can get masks that have a little aroma infusion in them.

  • I actually really like those.

  • So if you're in Japan, I challenge you to try out a mask and see how it goes.

Today, I want to answer one of the most commonly asked questions in my four plus plus plus years... Plus plus plus?

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