Spring is beautiful in Japan. It’s a cheery blossom season. Usually cherry blossom have a peek for one week. And then they will fall in the wind like a flurry of cherry blossoms. However, Spring is not only about pleasure but also tears and snot for those who have hay fever.
Near 20% Japanese people have hay fever. About 25 million people suffer from this seasonal sickness. Hay fever symptons tend to appear in nose and eyes. Sneezing, runny nose, and stuffy nose are the major symptons in nose. Red, itchy, watery eyes are also very common. These symptons are smilliar as cold. It takes about one week to cure a cold by youself. However, Hay fever will continue while the pollen is flying.
Foreigner might go several peaceful years without any symptoms and then suddenly it gets you. Our body is like a bucket which absorb the pollen until they overflow. A good news is you might have a big bucket and you will never have hay fever.
Hay fever in Japan commonly caused by pollen from sugi and hinoki which are two native Japnanese tree species. But hay fever is not common in Japan before World War II. large forests of sugi and hinoki was a result of Japanese government reforestation policies shortly. Sugi and hinoki are good building material which support the development of Japan after World War II. Nevertheless, Japan construction industry found cheaper building materials soon. Increasing forest dencity and aging trees contribute to pollen production and hay fever every year. Japanese government has plan to replace sugi and hinoki with low pollen species. It will take decades to achieve it.