4 comments

  • hastily3114 45 minutes ago
    Interesting. I noticed that many people have hay fever in Japan, but I always just assumed it was genetic or something. I wonder if living there for a long time will make you more sensitive to pollen
    • timr 11 minutes ago
      As someone who has suffered from hay fever for my entire life, and also lived in many different locations, almost every move came with a 2-3 year reprieve from my symptoms while my body "discovered" the fun new local allergens.
      • mc3301 33 minutes ago
        Lots of people I know who moved here as adults have developed pollen allergies over the years. Some after a 2 or 3 years, some after 10.
        • komali2 28 minutes ago
          I'd been wondering why my allergies go nuts every time I visit Japan, but never really suffered in other Asian countries. Cool to know now.

          Upside is I discovered the trick of just taking fexofenadine every single day which had the side effect of solving my chronic sinus infections.

        • pjc50 32 minutes ago
          Japan being 68% forest is an astounding stat.
          • vkou 29 minutes ago
            75% of it is mountains, and not exactly inhabited.
          • lloydatkinson 28 minutes ago
            Only two types of tree? Even in the 1970's surely that should have been cause for concern.
            • Mashimo 15 minutes ago
              This might have something to do with it:

              > When the sugi and hinoki forests were first planted in the 1950s and 60s, they weren't meant to stand forever. At the time, it was assumed they would be gradually cut down and replanted over time, as had been the case before the war. But as Japan's economy boomed in the late 60s and 70s, major cities like Kobe and Tokyo grew rapidly, and it ended up being cheaper to import wood from other countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

            • aaron695 47 minutes ago
              [dead]