Two weeks in and Westerners here just..

25 comments

1. Lot of people are rude, don’t understand, or don’t care to understand. Just enjoy your trip and continue being polite friend.

2. Yup, you are even handed a slip to remind you about wearing masks when you land in the country

3. Not just tourists. r/JapanLife basically has a weekly thread *with someone* complaining about people still wearing masks.

   Edit: clarification

4. Judging from the YouTube and other website comments, so many westerners (mostly from the USA since they’re the only one proudly mention it) even whine how Japanese are crazy for still wearing a mask and they won’t travel to Japan until they completely remove the mask. I mean how hard it is to follow the rules? Don’t like it then don’t go.

5. I am in the Tokyo metro right now and almost told off a fellow westerner with his MF nose sticking out. Almost wanted to apologize to the whole carriage.

6. I’ve been here several months. I’ve seen both westerners and Japanese not wear masks. Just live and let live.

7. Easy: if it’s not legally required outside, don’t wear one unless you want to.

   If it’s legally required to walk in a restaurant and take it off, then do that.

   If it’s legally required in the subway, wear it.

   Just follow the rules. You don’t have to follow the social pressure that Japanese feel from other Japanese.

   Edit to add: I did not know it was not a legal requirement. Here it was and still is for indoors. So that’s what I’m basing it on.

   And, you all can comment away, but I won’t engage.

8. The only people I’ve seen not wearing masks in closeted areas such as subway or shops were Japanese young people.

   Let it live, I can see the point of masks in winter and in crowded places but I think the mask politic in Japan is too extreme when even people in my rural town still wear it while clearly alone.

9. I would really need to remind and force myself to go back to those habits.

   Where I’m from we dropped all restrictions almost a year ago and life is pretty much back to normal. Covid doesn’t even get a mention on the news anymore.

   I probably wouldn’t travel to countries with strict guidelines for that reason to be honest. I don’t want to go back to that.

   I’m not anti mask or anything. I just like not needing to wear one anymore. My glasses get steamy.

10. I’ve seen Japanese, Chinese, Ethiopian, American, British, Australian, Balinese, and German ppl all not wearing masks since I’ve been in Japan

11. It usually is the foreigners without masks but I think I’ve seen about 70% of them wearing masks.

12. In my home country too but as foreigners we are guests in this country and it’s just bad manners not to play by the rulebook IMO.

13. In my home country too but as foreigners we are guests in this country and it’s just bad manners not to play by the rulebook IMO. It’s really not the end of the world to wear a mask on your Japan trip, why is it even an issue? Downvoters, enlighten me!

14. Not really. Most people without mask in Tokyo are japanese. Even inside the metro.

15. I was just there for a lovely 16 days, I just used my judgement. I didn’t want to make people feel nervous about me. I wore masks in packed public transportation, or other public spots that had a lot going on. Took them off in the wilderness and outdoors and when I was driving a motorcycle around. Have a helmet on anyway. It definitely helped people feel more comfortable in a few situations.

    I was talking to a well educated local girl in Osaka who spoke very good English. She brought up the topic of most Japanese being very hive minded and following the crowd and not rebeling, not just with the topic of masks, but the topic of other things like which street performers they crowd around and other socially desirable phenomenon.

    I’ve been living in Florida for the last 13 years. Which was essentially a mixed bag melting pot of people choosing to wear masks even when masks were recommended all the time. I remember seeing people who blurted out obscenities about mask wearers even when tensions were higher early on when the virus started. They basically saw masks as oppression and control on society.

    It was actually quite refreshing to see people being considerate to such a degree. I’m sure masks really do prevent illness spread in general in these high pop areas. So I get the feeling masks wearing behavior will not really loosen up in Japan like it has in other parts of the world.

16. Let the masks go. I think it’s time we stop worrying about it and the only people who worry should keep it on. We’re definitely past that danger point.

17. ITT: people who still think masks do anything at all to stop covid.

18. It’s really what people are used to. I recently traveled from Australia to the UK and wore masks at all times on public transport there as that was a requirement in Australia at the time I departed, so I was in the habit of automatically doing this. The British dropped masking requirements a while ago, so I was usually the only masked person. As masks don’t make much difference against omicron, it’s not worth getting too excited about whether other people are wearing them or not.

19. You seem to depict it a little extreme.

    Japanese are known to do what their fellows are doing, it’d be nice if tourists try to copycat that, but you obviously can’t force them because it’s not actually punishable by law.

    Unless tourists (or anyone else for that matter) actually break laws or rules, you/they will just have to accept it.

    From a different pov, it can actually be a good thing, showing Japan that COVID isn’t a big issue anymore and that they can loosen up a bit. Whether that is true or not is a different thing though, but in most countries removing restrictions has not resulted into a meltdown yet.

    If it’s asked of me (ie store sign) or if it’s crowded in a closed space, I will still wear a mask, no doubt. Other than that, probably not so much. Still debating if I am going to wear a mask on the streets of Tokyo, maybe if it is super crowded or when I am about to ask someone something (hides my ugly face too, which is a bonus in actually getting help lol)

20. I do find it interesting that almost everyone here is wearing loose fitting generic surgical masks instead of (k)n95. Are these hard to get here or do people just not care to spend more or something else ?

21. Homie there are no rules in place that force you to wear masks and sanitize hands. As if doing any of those things matter anyway, not like we have had terrible waves of infections regardless of us doing those things. Stop looking for a scapegoat.

22. I’m pro-mask. I’ve proudly worn these things for 2.5 years now. But… I thought we had a plan: wear masks until there is a vaccine. Then, get vaccinated and live life again. Everyone is vaccinated. I’ve gotten 4. I’m now realizing that Japanese people are never going to stop wearing them. Never ever ever. I want to see faces. I want my children to see faces. I’m tired of it. If tourists break the mask thing up, I welcome it. I’m vaccinated. It’s time. I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me.

23. I sometimes attend Japanese festival churches in Europe. Guess what they all were still wearing masks everywhere despite no one here does it. Should they follow the social rule to unmask because 99 percent don’t wear them ? Hell no. It’s all good. If it’s not required I won’t put that shit mask on when I go climbing/bycicling or walking in high winter, spring or summer. Go do it yourself and put your „ your bad citizen“ social pressure card in your asshole and learn to deal with it instead of pointing fingers everywhere because someone else is having a different view on how to enjoy their vacation. It is not mandatory so don’t play the police or politician and tell us we are all bad and evil citizen. They are old enough to know what to do and no Japanese person can blame them cause their own government says so. These post annoy me so dann much.

24. Yep, the habit comes from western cities where nowadays only about 5% are masking in crowded places

25. I’m visiting from the states and it makes me feel so much safer that everyone here is actually Covid conscious

    At home I’m one of the few who still always wears my mask, socially distances, and sanitizes, and it’s nice here because no one is giving me weird looks for caring about the pandemic

    I understand at home if people want to give me a look for still wearing a mask, but traveling to a country when there are still restrictions in place and not following those restrictions is really disrespectful

    Wearing a mask is literally one of the easiest things