why wear masks in Asia?
One stark observation anyone could make about Asian culture, even just by walking around the streets, is how many citizens wear masks while walking around.
Why?
Is it for protection against pollution? From getting sick? Aesthetic? A combination of everything?
The reality is that the woven-cloth surgical masks provide minimal protection from environmental viruses anyway. (Surgeons use them to protect patients from their mouth-borne germs, not the other way around.) But the masks’ actual prophylactic utility is, in a way, secondary to other reasons they’re being worn, which is why they’re likely to become more common in the future — even among non-Asians. — https://qz.com/299003/a-quick-history-of-why-asians-wear-surgical-masks-in-public/
So why wear them?
Many people assume the Japanese wear surgical masks because they’re sick, but the number one reason for wearing them is actually due to allergies. Disposable face masks marketed specifically to allergy sufferers first appeared on the market in 2003. Unlike their predecessors, these masks were cheap, disposable and easy to use. The new masks featured unwoven material, which the company claimed created a barrier to help block out pollen and other allergy triggers, making your hay fever much more bearable. — https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/why-do-japanese-people-wear-surgical-masks/
It is not only in Japan…but also Hong Kong and other countries in Asia.
In a city as densely populated as Hong Kong infectious diseases tend to spread rapidly, as was the case with both SARS and Avian Flu. As a result, Hong Kong residents are, quite understandably, obsessed with germs.
So, when Hong Kong residents get a cold or flu they tend to don their face mask, both to stop the disease spreading and in case they are carrying something more serious than a simple cold. — https://www.tripsavvy.com/face-masks-in-hong-kong-1535600
There are other benefits, of course:
For others, they offer anonymity and a break from social interaction. By wearing a mask, you not only make yourself less approachable, but you no longer have to put effort into the interactions you do have and react accordingly with a smile, frown or laugh, because no one can see it. But although it’s possible that some people wear surgical masks to avoid interactions with others from time to time, it’s the exception and not the rule. — https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/why-do-japanese-people-wear-surgical-masks/
how did it start?
The custom of facemask-wearing began in Japan during the early years of the 20th century, when a massive pandemic of influenza killed between 20 and 40 million people around the world — more than died in World War I. There were outbreaks of the disease on every inhabited continent, including Asia (where it devastated India, leading to the deaths of a full 5% of the population). Covering the face with scarves, veils and masks became a prevalent (if ineffective) means of warding off the disease in many parts of the world, until the epidemic finally faded at the end of 1919.
In Japan, a few years later, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, triggered a massive inferno that consumed nearly 600,000 homes in the most populous part of the nation. After the quake, the sky was filled with smoke and ash for weeks, and air quality suffered for months afterward. Facemasks came out of storage and became a typical accessory on the streets of Tokyo and Yokohama. A second global flu epidemic in 1934 cemented Japan’s love affair with the facemask, which began to be worn with regularity during the winter months — primarily, given Japan’s obsession with social courtesy, by cough-and-cold victims seeking to avoid transmitting their germs to others, rather than healthy people looking to prevent the onset of illness.
Then, in the 1950s, Japan’s rapid post-World War II industrialization led to rampant air pollution and booming growth of the pollen-rich Japanese cedar, which flourished due to rising ambient levels of carbon dioxide. Mask-wearing went from seasonal affectation to year-round habit. Today, Japanese consumers buy $230 million in surgical masks a year, and neighboring countries facing chronic pollution issues — most notably China and Korea — have also adopted the practice. — https://qz.com/299003/a-quick-history-of-why-asians-wear-surgical-masks-in-public/
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