I have lived in Japan for 14 years. Before coming, I had no allergies. But 2 years in I started getting severely blocked nose and itchy eyes. I went to the doctors and got medicine. I take them to this day whenever my symptoms flare up. Whenever I traveled back to the UK, I noticed the symptoms would disappear. When my first kid was born, he developed similar symptoms. He got a blood test that revealed he was allergic to dust and house mites (as am I). Initially, I thought it was because we lived in an older house. But we moved to a new build shortly after we discovered about his allergies. When I took him back the UK, his symptoms would disappear completely like mine.
My second kid, who has lived in the new house his entire life, has the same allergy problems. My wife and clean borderline obsessively, and have air-purifiers throughout the house. Yet on our trip to the UK this past month, which has been a while because of COVID-19, both of their allergies were non-existent. My eldest kid, who is now 9 years old, commented on how much he prefers the UK air (though not the food lol). As soon as we got back to Japan, even the first night in a hotel near Narita, both kids’ noses clogged up. They have had to take their medicines again to ease the symptoms. I brought this up to their doctor on a recent visit, but he just shrugged his shoulders and said 不思議ですね。
I live in a fairly rural area in Japan, and in the UK we stay with my parents who also live in a small English village. It’s only a few miles away to the nearest city. My parents even own a dog, which we have been told by our Japanese doctor never to buy. Again, no issues.
I am just curious there are others whose allergies flare up only here?
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You talk about allergies as if they are a general thing. Your allergies are specific. It doesn’t matter that your parents own a dog if you’re not allergic to dogs. If you have worse allergies in Japan it’s because whatever you are allergic to is more common in Japan.
Have you been tested for Japanese cedar allergies? That would easily explain the *better air* in the UK. I’m allergic to that, which is why I have no hay fever in Canada but awful hay fever in Japan.
I get pretty severe ragweed (butakusa) pollen allergies here every year in the fall, not the spring when everyone’s cedar pollen allergies are acting up.
Holy shit! I also in the same situation as you
My eye became itchy since last year June I only got treatment since this year April. At first I thought it was because I used computer a lot due to my job. But when the doctor gave me the allergy treatment, my eye symptoms completely gone.
Not just my eye, I also noticed that my nose is becoming more itchy and stuck since this December. My skin (especially around the face and scalp) also become more itchy and flaky too :(.
I haven’t had a chance to get back to my home country to see if the symptoms will disappear though
I recommend getting a futon cleaner, or wash all of your bedding everyday.
My wife and daughter are also allergic to dust and house mites and they would get the same symptoms when going to bed. After we got futon cleaner and gave it a good clean, they seem to sleep a lot more quietly.
Unfortunately, not sure about the best thing to do elsewhere in the house.
I’ve always had allergies and eczema, but they got 10 times worse after moving here.
It’s certainly due to age as well. I like to make the comparison of a lion in a zoo: We are no longer in our natural habitat and some minor consequences arise due to the fact.
Yes, exactly the same. But in my case it depends a lot on the season/area. At my in-law’ house, for example, which is in 山のど真ん中, it’s almost always a non-stop sneezing fest. In my home country, nothing at all. Last month I was there for 3 weeks and it was very refreshing in every way.
I don’t give it more importance and I live with it, it doesn’t bother me so much on a day-to-day basis. Most probably it’s some sort of allergy to dust mite, pollen, etc. as some here have mentioned.
I’ve been here for almost 6 years and I never had allergies before. In my 4th year I developed short breath and hives. It turns our I am allergic to mold according to my ENT. It only flares up from late May to October but I’m on meds, they help but I feel really drowsy in the afternoon. So due to this my wife and I are always trying to keep our place as mold free as possible, but we live on a ground floor.
It really depends more so on your body I think. When I was still living in my country of origin, I had sinus attacks/congested nose almost every other day. Moved elsewhere and boom nothing, not even during severe pollen seasons. Same thing here in Japan. No sinus attacks despite the humidity. Whenever I travel home to visit family I get them again.
Shit’s silly, but I am grateful for the massive QoL improvement. Might be specific pollutants, might be the weather. I still have no idea.
I never had a whiff of hay fever in the UK. Since moving to Japan I have the worst hay fever from around the start of February to about the end of April.
I’m the opposite, had really bad hayfever in the UK, nothing here.
Yeah, both my wife and I, and she’s from here. As soon as I open the window I feel like I’m coming down with a cold. It’s less annoying in the winter.
We got prescribed something called Rion OD 10mg. Does the trick almost instantly
Not sure about over-the-counter stuff but this stuff is super cheap at the walk-in
Japan has four seasons, so….