JP/5/POLEN

Japanese combat hay fever with masks, goggles

Coco Kubota Deutsche Presse-Agentur Tokyo

Spring has come, and for the Japanese it is the season to don masks and goggles in an effort to keep away pollen.

Binaya Panda, a businessman who moved to Japan from the United States in February, said, "I have never seen so many people wearing masks. At first, I thought this was because the Japanese were very polite and don't want to spread germs when they cough or sneeze in a public place."

Roughly 20 million of Japan's population of 110 million, or one out of six people, suffers from hay fever. People are not the only sufferers. A similar percentage of monkeys are said to suffer, as well as 10 per cent of pet dogs.

Japanese lawmakers from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party have even formed the "Achoo League" to promote counter measures to hay fever and other allergies.

Shinya Ono, House of Representatives member and the head of the league, said the Japanese government's budget for measures to fight allergies, including research and development for new drugs and thinning those species of tree said to be a cause of allergy, increased to 7.3 billion yen (US$62.4million) in fiscal 2002 from 268 million yen in 1995.

Hiroshi Horibe is sales manager at Tokyo's Odakyu department store in downtown Shinjuku. He said, "Despite the weak economy, the market for hay fever products has been growing rapidly and many big corporations have entered this market this year."

Odakyu carries special anti-pollen products and more than 300 allergy-related goods, including goggles to prevent pollen from reaching the eyes, herbal tea and nasal sprays. There is also a portable air supply in the form of a necklace that emits an alkaline ion which is supposed to relax the body and mind of an allergy sufferer.

"More people are buying masks and goggles this year as the Japan Weather Association forecast record levels of pollen," Horibe said.

The allergy treatment market is huge - estimated at 300 billion yen a year. The usual remedies treat runny noses, itchy eyes and tickly throats.

But some unexpected firms are entering the market: leading paper diaper manufacturer Uni-Charm Corp has developed what it calls an "ultra-cubic mask" using high-ventilation unwoven cloth technology.

Japan's largest coat manufacturer, Sanyo Shokai, released in February a coat that resists pollen, while Meiji Seika Kaisha, a leading confectionery maker, has a drink called "Pollen Knock Out", which contains red perilla, that supposedly helps hay fever.

Soy sauce maker Kikkoman Corp introduced this year "Power of Tomatoes" tablets to fight hay fever. The product contains polyphenol extracted from the skin of processed tomatoes.

Kikkoman, which spent three years developing the anti-pollen tablets, says they cause no sleepiness or thirst, unlike antihistamine drugs, which are often used for hay fever.

In Tokyo, the number of people who suffer from hay fever has doubled in the past 10 years, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan government.

A major factor is pollen from the sugi cedar tree. The number of allergy sufferers increases amid a rise in pollen counts from the maturing cedar and other trees that were planted in huge numbers after the war.

More than 65 per cent of Japan's total land area is covered by trees while 70 per cent of woodlands comprises Japanese cedar.

In March, each hectare of cedar can produce as much as one ton of spores a day. Other contributing factors include aerial pollution, changes in diet and mental stress.

According to a survey by the National Center for Child Health and Development in Tokyo, 86 per cent of Japanese born in the 1970s have some type of allergy.

Hirohisa Saito, head of the allergy department at the institute, said, "It is said that children who grew up in good sanitary conditions are at greater risks from allergies. Japan's sanitary system was dramatically improved in the 1970s and what has been happening supports this theory."

Despite various products now on the market, scientists say allergy sufferers will have to wait another 10 years or so for complete relief.