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Japan
This Week in AsiaHealth & Environment

Japan steps up battle against pollen season to help hay fever sufferers breathe easier

  • An unseasonably warm winter has resulted in cedar trees releasing pollen earlier than usual, say weather forecasting companies
  • To tackle the problem, Japan plans to fell millions of cedar trees and provide funding for the development of new medicines to ease the symptoms of pollen exposure

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A woman wears a mask to guard against cedar allergies. Photo: Shutterstock
Julian Ryall
As Japan grapples with an unprecedented early start to its dreaded kafunsho (cedar pollen allergy) season, the government is stepping up its campaign to combat the annual scourge through a number of aggressive steps, including felling millions of the offending trees.

Cedar pollen has already been detected in Tokyo and eight surrounding prefectures, as well as parts of the far south of the country, heralding the earliest start of the widely loathed allergy season ever recorded in Japan.

Private weather forecasting companies have cautioned that an unseasonably warm winter across the entire nation has encouraged millions of cedar trees to start releasing pollen earlier than usual.

According to Weathernews Inc, people who suffer from allergies were reporting early symptoms of the sneezing season as early as January 25. Last year, the first reports of pollen in the air did not come in until February 2, while the average of recent years for the arrival of kafunsho season is February 7.

A map on the website of The Japan Weather Association indicates that measurable levels of pollen have been detected by sensors across the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo and in Yamaguchi prefecture, on the far southwest tip of Honshu.

Yoko Tsukamoto is among the approximately 40 per cent of Japanese who suffer from cedar allergies every year, and admits that she groans whenever she hears the first warnings of pollen each spring.

“In many ways I’m fortunate, as I live in Hokkaido, and we do not have so many trees producing pollen every year, but I dread having to travel to Tokyo or somewhere else in Japan at this time of the year,” said Tsukamoto, a professor of infection control at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido.

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