What's up with all the surgical masks?

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We knew we were heading into a different world even when we were still on the ground in San Francisco. As we boarded the United jet, we immediately noticed about half of all the passengers wore surgical masks.  Hmmmm….either they are sick; they think everyone else is sick or they know something about this airline air that we don’t know. 

The masks continued at the airport in Kyoto. All of the immigration officers wore them and about half of everyone we saw at the airport had them on too.  After a long bus ride from the airport, we arrive around 6 PM in downtown Kyoto.  I was so tired and bewildered at the same time.  The lasting image from that first night as I looked out from the taxi was two young men in black suits riding bicycles on the street with their white surgical masks.  Now you don’t see that everyday in Austin.

The next day we did what many travelers to Japan must do. We Googled, “Surgical masks in Japan.”  What a fine blog we found.  TofuGu Thank you John, fellow traveler for this great information.  As this blog describes, yes…it is common for people to wear masks if they are sick and if they believe others may be sick.

David was fighting a cold before we left Austin. Here in Kyoto he has been coughing, sneezing and the like. I convinced David that wearing a mask was necessary.  I argued that we are guests here in Japan and we need to respect local custom.

So, here is the mask section a convenience store.  As you see you can see, you have the option of disposable or reusable masks. Value packages go up to 10 so you get a little discount on bulk buying.  All the masks we have seen out and about are white, but looks like some of the packaging is gendered.  If the color codes are the same, pink packs for the ladies and blue packs for the gents.

Here David models his mask as we settle in for one one of our first restaurant meals.  David really didn't wear it much because it was a bit weird and the mask fogged up his glasses (it is cold here). Later Emma reflected that perhaps the masks are for just for fashion!  “Wow,” I said. “Now that would be some marketing campaign.”