OK, so the title was clickbait. Of course they have sinuses, but here’s the thing. I was here in the 1990s and for my first couple of years, I taught English. The subject came up of head colds and sinus infections and my students were dumbfounded. They were all saying things like, “What are you talking about? We don’t have little pockets in our face like that. When we have a cold, our ‘nose’ gets stopped up.” And I would explain that they have trouble breathing through the nose, so they associate it with their nose but sometimes the stuffiness extends to the forehead and cheeks, but they were adamant that no such thing happens. I even brought up kafunsho, hay fever, but they wouldn’t admit that it was affecting any little pockets in their faces.
I spent ten years here in the 90s and have been back this time for almost two. Over the years, I have had the discussion with several Japanese friends and co-workers, as well as with my wife, but to no satisfaction. In the US, if you go buy nasal spray, many times the advertisements will have graphic images of the complete sinus structures, often showing the difference between clear ones and inflamed ones. But you don’t see that on packages here.
If I look up the definition for stuffy sinuses, I get “hanazumari” or stopped up nose. Now I have been able to find a full page on 副鼻腔炎 (fukubikouen), or Sinusitis, which is a sinus infection, with the fukubikou part being sinuses. I showed it to my wife and she said, “Maybe this is something only doctors know about, but I have never had these symptoms, nor have I ever heard another Japanese person say they have.
I am not saying that if you search hard enough you cannot find information on sinuses in Japanese. All I am saying is your average Taro on the street doesn’t seem to know what they are, or even that they exist. They can blurt out almost any other body part, including organs, but they have a whole different concept of what a head cold is.
I’m not really looking for any solutions. It’s just something that has irrationally plagued me for years and I wanted to vent. If any of you get a chance, ask your Japanese acquaintances about their sinuses and see if you get the same reaction.
17 comments
Please check out the medical resources on the [wiki!](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/wiki/medical)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/japanlife) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[removed]
They definitely do. My wife has repeatedly suffered from sinusitis and it’s terrible. No idea why people wouldn’t know about it. Perhaps just the way language is used and a lack of interest in knowing more about the topic.
I don’t think you should put much faith in the “average intelligence” of anyone anywhere.
> Now I have been able to find a full page on 副鼻腔炎 (fukubikouen), or Sinusitis, which is a sinus infection, with the fukubikou part being sinuses. I showed it to my wife and she said, “Maybe this is something only doctors know about, but I have never had these symptoms, nor have I ever heard another Japanese person say they have.
Most people, regardless of where in the world, have little medical knowledge. For example, many women (and a whole lot more men) don’t even understand that the urethra and vagina are not the same hole.
I think it’s about how marketing is done for the products. US uses graphic images of face pockets and Japanese don’t, which affects what people know about it.
But any Japanese who’s had or have a sinus problem serious enough will know about the face pockets because doctors will have talked about them or they would have looked up on the internet.
As an east-asian, I only found out about my face pockets and how it was full of crap after the doctor took xray of my face to show why I need to do something about it.
Lol that’s interesting because I’ve also had sinusitis symptoms recently, like pain in my “face” especially like under my eyes/around my nose, and that built up pressure feeling. My husband looked at me oddly when I tried to explain it like he’s never felt that before or didn’t understand what I meant and he didn’t understand the word sinuses either or understand what I meant when I talked about holes in your bones in your face. I had to show him images and translate the word to Japanese and he said he vaguely remembered reading that word before in science class or something maybe but that’s it.
Obviously they must get sinus infections but maybe the way they feel or describe it feeling is different I guess. Or just less awareness about it, like you said how medication shows sinuses on the package in some other countries
I had sinusitis once and went to the ENT, in Tokyo, who took an x-ray of my face and based on that put a vacuum tube up my nose and sucked my brains out. At least by the volume of icky stuff that came out, that’s what it felt like.
I actually stopped having sinusitis when when I cut down on eating bread. Another culprit was craft beer and red wine. After drinking those, my sinuses would be sore the next day and, most likely, swollen. Once swollen they are prone to get infected and then likely to get chronically infected when post nasal drip becomes the norm. There could be a genetic aspect too that makes them more likely to get infected as my father was forever over a bucket of boiling water with a towel over his head.
So, if you live a lifestyle where you don’t get an infection then you probably don’t need to know about them.
Thanks for posting… I have thought exactly the same thing before.
Nasal problems can extend to or be linked to sinus problems… that’s well known in my home country… but most people here barely seem to know about the existence of sinuses. It’s a bit strange.
Many Japanese are not familiar with 副鼻腔炎. Instead, 蓄膿症(chiku-nou-shou) is more common.
I like to keep this in mind at all times:
*A bird is not an ornithologist.*
A lot of people everywhere have gaps in their knowledge, especially medical facts. Lots of people think getting rained on causes colds or that you can’t get pregnant when breastfeeding or that they can save half their antibiotics “for later”.
Then you have the tendency for people here to say “Japanese people don’t ~.” When really they mean “I don’t ~.”
My husband has bad allergies and knows all about sinuses.
I totally understand! Been here a while and only my ENT knows what I mean when I say sinusitis.
They are definitely not immune to sinus issues. My Japanese mom had to have sinus surgery in her 20s in Tokyo because of recurring infections and constant post nasal drip. So yeah, it’s definitely a thing.
I was shocked when I realised it wasn’t part of their Japanese vocabulary. Everyone knows about sinuses where I come from, Turkey. We always talked about how we have a headache because of our sinuses when we’re sick. I wouldn’t expect teenagers to know about it but even the most cultured people don’t seem to be aware of that part of their body here. It’s just one of those weird differences.
Different languages talk about body parts in different ways.
See also:
hip(s) Vs backside/butt
Leg Vs foot/feet
Chest/breast(s)
Fingers/thumbs/toes
Thanks for all the great replies. Sorry I didn’t keep up with the thread and answer each of you, but I’m not very good (i.e. experienced) at Reddit and when I tried to look at the replies, I kept getting an error saying the thread no longer exists. Then I just got back in and here it is.
It was interesting to find so many other people who have noticed the same thing, and some people with the opposite experience, saying Japanese people they know are aware of sinuses.