I’ve managed to catch the cold that’s been going around the J-List office, so I’ve got one of those Japanese health masks on right now. I remember my first few days after arriving in Japan, wowing at everything from the vending machines that were less than a few inches in depth to allow them to be placed along narrow streets to highly urbanized areas which nevertheless had rice paddies in the middle of them. Every time I’d head out to explore my city, I’d encounter a person wearing what appeared to me to be a surgical mask, as if they’d just ducked out of the operating room to get some air. These masks are worn by anyone experiencing cold or hayfever symptoms, done to avoid infecting others with your germs and to also to give them a visible warning that you’re sick and they might want to keep their distance. In a country where one of the most important virtues is gambaru — that is, do your best, give your all, work hard, always show your effort — the image of an employee working hard at his or her desk with a gauze mask on, perhaps enduring a slight fever, is in some ways a classic cultural image.
You see many people wearing gauze masks in Japan.
