Cedar Pollen 杉の花粉 (Revenge of the Trees)

The sneezing and burning sensations in the nose and eyes, similar to low-level tear-gas or pepper spray exposure, which residents of Japan may feel beginning right about now is the conjunctivitis and rhinitis symptomatic of kafunsho, 花粉症, or pollenitis. This epidemic is the unfortunate result of a large-scale cedar reforestation miscalculation in the early post-war era which led to massive quantities of pollen per cubic centimeter. Dense stands of cedar-only forests covering 12% of the national land area led to production of absurd levels of pollen. Not only are they much denser than a natural forest, but being all the same species packed together causes each tree to vastly escalate its pollen production to compete with neighboring trees. At the same time, the population became highly sensitized to allergic reactions due to sanitation (i.e. nobody has worms anymore, which gave a natural protection against kafunsho). It has been found to affect monkeys, too.

I have added some quick kafun 花粉 (pollen) reference items to the sidebar for quick reference, with a bias toward Kanto, Tokyo and Chiba, although navigating up a level from http://yklt.kafun-info.jp/html/kanto_s.html to http://yklt.kafun-info.jp/html/ will get you to a national pollen map courtesy of Yakult(!?), for example. This kafunsho season, not unlike a protracted cold, will last from mid-February to early May. Sometimes you can see the thick clouds of pollen blowing off the trees, or you can see it on the windshield of a car or anywhere where it would gather such as a windowsill. They look to be about 30 microns (30,000 nanometers) wide. Maybe. Here are some magnified pictures at 2500X. Here's an electron microscope image from here. Right is a picture from an Osaka government site.

I use a variety of methods to cope. First of all, the prophylactic principle is most effective. This means wearing a surgical mask to block as much pollen as possible. That cuts the symptoms by
25-75%. Next, eat all the pills your doctor gives you. This will have the unfortunate effect of making you borderline narcoleptic, able to sleep on a dime at anytime by just closing your eyes, if you aren't that tired already. That induced drowsiness is nice; since you feel miserable anyway, who needs consciousness? A third way to fight the pollen is with eye drops and nasal spray. I checked out the eye drops and found they were made of the usual anti-red-eye ingredient, the name of which I have forgotten. I found that the active ingredient of my nasal spray was hydrochloric acid. When your sinuses are completely blocked, yet oozing nasal mucus profusely, hydrochloric acid seems like it may be just the thing. I'll trust the judgment of the medical community. I would like to have some goggles since my eyes itch like crazy. I have often thought that oxygen tanks and an oxygen mask wouldn't really be such a bad idea. It could actually be an improvement on the surgical mask and goggles to have a transparent glass oxygen mask, or just go all the way and cover the head with a transparent helmet with positive air pressure from a clean supply. This would interfere with eating and drinking, but keep pollen out of your hair, too. You would want to take it off occasionally. If it were made lighter, either a gauzy veil-like envelope or a clear plastic type resembling a plastic bag over the head, that would have some advantages, too.

The very best solution is rain. Rain cleanses the air of all the organic and inorganic crap. If it rains, you get immediate relief. You will know when you wake up if the rain has stopped or started. Wind is the worst. I'll be hoping for rain until May. Last year, the rainy season began from May (instead of June).