Hay Fever (Ceder Pollen Allegy)
スギ花粉症 Sugi-Kafunsho
Although there are so many kinds of plants that can cause allegic symptoms, the rate of Japanese people who are allegic to ceder pollen is as high as 38.8% out of 42.5% allegic to any kinds of pollen, according to the research conducted in 2019. Therefore, "hay fever" generally refers to ceder pollen allegy in Japan.
The allegic reactions coincide with the pollen's disperser of sugi, Japanese ceder, usually between February and April in the transition from cold winter to warm spring. Throughout the season, Japan experiences many windy days due to extratropical low pressure generated by the collision of cold air from north and warm air from south. It helps the pollen spread out throughout the country. In Japanese forecasts, the pollen count information is usally provided during the season.
Japanese monkey with the allegic symptoms
The symptoms caused by the allegy are mostly nosal ones such as sneezing, runny nose, nosal congestion, and ocular ones such as itchy and bloodshot eyes. At its peak, lots of people with the allegy prefer to wear a face mask to prevent ceder pollen breathed in. Because of this habit, a considerable number of Japanese people are willing to wear a face mask whenever they have a risk of going outside like when under the Covid-19 pandemic.
Considering the prevelance among people, ceder pollen allegy is often described as a "national disease." There has been a certain situation to make it nationwide in Japan, particularly after World War II. Currently, ceder trees occupy about 40% of all man-made forests in Japan, mostly which were planted in order to supply enough timber for the postwar recovery. Ceder is traditionally popular as a housing material for its quick growth, straightness, easiness in proccessing, and low price. In the increasingly high demand during the economic growth period, however, imported timbers took the place of domestic ones and the man-made ceder forests were left with less use. Gradually from 1950s, mature ceder trees started to release pollen and in 1970s, ceder pollen allegy became known as a common disease in the modern times.
In May 2023, the Japanese government announced a policy to address the situation. This is a 30-year-long plan to decrease the amount of ceder pollen into a half by increasing the use of ceder timbers as housing materials, reducing man-made ceder forests, replacing the trees with less pollen or other species. Also, artificial intelligence will be made efficient use of to provide more precise pollen count information.
台風並みの暴風となる「春の嵐」「メイストーム」 気象情報や警報・注意報に注意して安全対策を | 政府広報オンライン (gov-online.go.jp)
スギ・ヒノキ林に関するデータ：林野庁 (maff.go.jp)
国民を苦しめる「花粉症」、山林からスギがなくならない理由とは | News&Analysis | ダイヤモンド・オンライン (diamond.jp)
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