Will I be wearing a mask in Tokyo after 3/13/23?

LifestyleStories

Mar 12

I've been wanting to talk about this since June of 2022, and with the recent changes announced in January of 2023 where the Japanese government is making changes to their mask recommendations for 3/13/23, I decided I will go ahead and share my thoughts & analysis on this topic as a relatively new resident of Tokyo along with my predictions! Today is 3/13 and so I’m sharing it on my blog! Special thanks to O* Sensei my Japanese language teacher, my friends & husband for all the thoughtful conversations about this topic! If you prefer to read the content, I have it available here on the blog, but if you prefer to watch it instead, head on over to my youtube channel :)

Background

I had planned to start a youtube channel during the pandemic because the future was so uncertain at the time in 2020, when I was not allowed to work as a makeup & hair artist due to the mandatory shelter-in-place. My partner, a videogame producer started a job in Tokyo in September of 2019, as I had work commitments in 2020, I had planned to move here in 2021…but you know, COVID and borders closing down. So I finally made the move from Northern California to Tokyo May of 2022 after multiple postponements! And I’m recording this video March 3rd of 2023!

When I was planning my channel, I had a full list of video ideas in my planner, and after a few weeks in Tokyo, I decided to move all of them aside because I really want to talk about Mask-Wearing in Tokyo - I was hoping I would get around to making this video in 2022, but I was busy acclimating to life here as a new immigrant in Tokyo, and learning Japanese, this video moved up the video production list because the Japanese government announced on 3/13/2023 they are removing their official recommendation for indoor mask wearing.

I’m quoting from the Japan Times article I linked dated Jan 15th, “According to the source, the government is considering relaxing guidelines on indoor face coverings, as it believes that when COVID-19 is downgraded to a Class 5 disease under infectious disease legislation from the current Class 2, anti-infection measures should also be on par with those taken for Class 5 pathogens.” Seasonal flu.

Unlike America, Japan never had an official mask mandate, it was always only an official recommendation. Businesses are private entities so they are allowed to ask and require you to wear one when inside their businesses. My husband heard from others who are more familiar with the Japanese constitution that it is unconstitutional in Japan to have a mask mandate. However, but as Japan is a very communal culture, no mandate was needed to convince its citizens that wearing a mask was a good idea to protect yourself and others, especially the population with immune-compromised, or the elderly population.

Our experience as immigrants in various countries - "When in Rome"

I will preface this video by sharing that this is 100% my personal opinion and observation. I hope you can see that I’m approaching this topic thoughtfully and respectfully. It is very easy to impose our own values and judgments onto another culture and dismiss their train of thought, but that’s not what I’m here to do - I want to provide different perspectives and analysis when looking at the masking behavior in Tokyo. If this is your very time meeting me here, whether on this blog or my youtube channel, let me start by sharing that Japan is my 7th country as a new immigrant. I have lived in 6 different countries before Japan, and so my perspective is derived from my own life experience as a citizen of planet earth, my background in social science, and working in diverse/multicultural settings in my adult life. I adapt really quickly and observe social norms and patterns fast as a survival skill.

I was living in Taiwan during Sars1 in 2003, and so public mask mandates were not new to me, and mask culture and understanding why people would and should wear a mask is also not new to me. I experienced the opposite in the U.S. in March of 2020 where there was a huge resistance to the mask mandate, and it was frustrating to me that the U.S. government was slow to react with closing down borders and mask mandates that should have been implemented Mid-February at the latest, but then the U.S. didn’t really get hit with Sars, so unlike Taiwan, who had a policy in place, was able to control the rates of infections a lot better.

So back to the main topic about mask-wearing, I will leave it to the infectious disease experts about the efficacy of mask-wearing to prevent spreading COVID-19, even though even amongst them they seem to disagree..Anyway, when I first moved to Tokyo, I was wondering why over 90% of people are wearing a mask outdoors in Japan despite a lack of a mask mandate, and in June of 2022 and why or why should I follow this informal rule, because “when in rome”.... Well…It’s complicated.

I had a in depth discussion or debates with my husband about it because over the summer, I struggled with how hot and humid this subtropical summer was, and as a person who runs extremely warm, wearing a mask in the heat gives me rashes, eczema and maskne (or mask acne - these are also called Contact Dermatitis and Acne Mechanica - I’m also a licensed esthetician lol).

Where I stand, if majority of the citizens has access to 3 shots, theoretically we have herd immunity, and as long as we practice good common sense, for example, wearing a mask in enclosed spaces with no ventilation like inside the crowded trains, planes, subways or inside a crowded restaurant, washing our hands and sanitizing, checking our temperature and staying home if we feel ill, we are indeed doing our part to prevent the spread of COVID19 and caring about our fellow community members, especially the immune-compromised and elderly.

Impressions of Maskless Foreigners (tourists and residents alike) in Japan

My husband also lived in 4 countries on 4 different continents and Japan is his 5th new country. Where he stands is a little different from where I am. He gets upset when seeing foreigners not wearing masks because he believes it makes all foreigners look bad in the eyes of the Japanese community. To give his sentiment a little more context, he is drawing from the aggression and micoaggression he experienced as an Asian Man in Western countries he’s lived in like Australia and U.S. There is the general unfair treatment towards immigrants in the Western Countries like the U.S. - you may have heard of the “Model Minority” stereotype, where Asians are praised for their socio-economic success, fueling the false myth of the American Dream where anyone who works hard enough, pull themselves by their bootstraps can be successful. Well, in America we mostly define success by how much money you make (Again, another video for another time…!) All immigrants have to overcompensate for being immigrants, but the model minority stereotype has arguably made it harder for the Asian community as a whole, with a lot of pressure from parents and the community to “represent” well in society at large. The plight of Asian immigrants have been highlighted in more recent movies like Minari and Everything, Everywhere All At Once - if you haven’t seen them yet, you should go watch it, after this video :)

My husband feels that if foreigners do not wear masks and do not adhere to the informal rule of wearing masks, they are not putting the same basic amount of effort we (as Asians) have had to put in order to fit into Western societies. The fact that the individuals that he observes when walking around Tokyo, happen to be visibly non-Japanese, in fact mostly white, and standing out on top by not wearing a mask, is making it worst for all foreigners as a whole in Japan. I will put a link in for the great video from Nobita from Japan - his video features Lemi, where she described what my husband described way more eloquently. I’m paraphrasing but in that video, Lemi mentioned that one of the initial reactions to seeing foreigners not wearing a mask is that they do not care about the well-being of others. This is why as new immigrants of Japan, we want to be respectful to the country - we want to fit in and not make Japanese residence around us uncomfortable. I too don’t want to be thought of as not caring of other people’s health and well-being.

Schemas, Social Psychology

Having experienced racism, discrimination in every single country I’ve lived in, I know a thing or two about trying to fit in. But let’s start with why our default brain state is to categorize people into schemas, or mental shortcuts. You may have come across the term Schemas in news articles talking about stereotypes & discrimination, or maybe school psychology or social science classes. Schemas are highly efficient for your brain to sort information into categories, because it’s a useful survival mechanism. I’ll just use an easy example when our ancestors were hunters & gatherers. You come across a Mountain Lion on your hunt, but you have never seen one; however, you have seen a “large cat” schema, having encountered a cougar before with similar features, your brain already knows it’s dangerous and you need to hide, run or kill it or get killed. Your brain doesn’t need to wait around to collect further data on whether a Mountain Lion is dangerous or not. But the downside is that we can start over-generalizing can lead to biases and as I shared in my intro, if we want to be a conscientious person in a global world, in order to stop discrimination, we must constantly ACTIVELY update or fight against the schemas in our brains to prevent ourselves from forming rigid stereotypes.

Formal vs. Informal Social Control

The second component that I’d like to bring up that’s a bit more complex than peer pressure is Informal Social Control. Formal Social Control is the law and reinforced by government officials, like a mask mandate, or borders closing or the rules you have to follow to enter a country, like take a negative covid test within 72 hours of boarding, or requiring 3 shots to enter Japan, etc.

I had a discussion about this topic with my Japanese language teacher who has lived abroad earlier this week. I told her that last week while I worked on-set as a makeup & hair artist in Tokyo, all the talent who sat in my chair were Japanese, and they were actually telling me I don’t need to wear a mask and I should feel comfortable taking it off! I explained that I have allergies and that is why I prefer to keep my mask-on when doing makeup, but I thanked them for telling me that. And then there are people who look at me on NON CROWDED streets when I choose to take my mask off outside. Even though, there are also other Japanese people not wearing mask on trains, on the streets, leaving their nose out. Even though I’m from Taiwan and am East Asian, and thought I could ‘pass,’ especially while wearing a mask, apparently I don’t pass as I still stand out because I don’t dress, do my makeup/hair, look or have the same mannerisms as local Japanese woman. That is a given, but I didn’t think they would immediately recognize me was a foreigner, especially with half my face covered.

March 13th 2023 Predictions

With that being said, this is how I predict how 3/13/2023 will go, based on and my observation of Japanese culture & behavior after living here for the last 10 months. Out of 10 Japanese people, there are 2-3 who are very PRO masking at all times, no matter what the infectious disease expert says, no matter what the government says, and they will judge everyone who aren’t wearing one, and will probably judge foreigners or immigrants harshly, if they don’t wear a mask in public. Period. You cannot change their minds. Then, there will be about 2-3 people like the lovely people I met at my makeup/hair last week who are ready to embrace life before the pandemic and will be very happy to take off their mask immediately and in all social circumstances. The only exception would be, unless they have a cold or the flu - that is just Japanese basic etiquette and good common sense to not spread viruses when you are sick. And the remaining 4-5 people, will be looking around to see what the majority are doing. As mentioned, they are a very communal culture, and it is important cultural value to not only be considerate of others, but to do their best not make others feel uncomfortable. Even if those 4-5 people really don’t agree with masking indoors and outdoors, they will keep their mask on if they notice that the majority of people are wearing their masks.

What will I do from 3/13 - Will I take my mask off, or keep wearing it and why?

So far, I’ve been wearing masks in public unwillingly, because it will upset my husband. What will I be doing from now on? I will continue to exercise my common sense as usual. If the train is not that crowded and people are not breathing on top of me, I don’t think it’s necessary to wear one. If I’m walking outside al fresco, no mask. It is MY belief that I need to be authentic and do what is right for me, and I hope that by me taking off my mask, it will help the 4-5 people who may want to take of their mask, feel more comfortable, and less fearful of judgment for taking it off as well. I want to be there for the 4-5 people, not the 2-3 people who will judge me no matter what.

I have not gotten covid-19, and I’ve only been sick with the seasonal cold ONE time since May of 2018. I don’t get sick often to begin with, and if I feel even a little under the weather, I immediately practice self-care and usually my immune system fights it off. I’ve been doing this for a long time because when I worked as a makeup artist, I am inches away from my clients face, and prior to 2020, no body wore masks, and so if they breath or talk to me while sick, if they cough on me by accident get sick, I am at risk of catching it, and my immunity is my best defense; I cannot perform my job properly and I have my clients counting on me; I felt it was my ethical duty to be healthy, so I practiced keeping my immunity up. If I am sick, I will wear a mask to not pass it on to others. THAT is how you care for your community in my opinion, not pressuring others to conform to an informal rule that may no longer make sense in 2023. As the news articles and what the government said, there can always be new strains and new diseases, and we will adjust accordingly, but this is what we should do right now.

Conclusion

My husband will do his own thing, and I told him I’ve done my part for 10 months. I said we’ll just agree to disagree. Because I know in my heart that the best way to change any anti-foreigner sentiments, combat racism, prejudice, or “schemas” is to befriend others and talk about our similarities and differences, building bridges via friendships, getting to know each other on a deep level, so that they can say: “Hey I made this great Taiwanese-American friend who identifies as a citizen of planet earth, is super fun to talk to, caring, and I’m happy to have a friend like her” - that’s how you do it combat prejudice in my opinon- not by caving into informal social control.

I hope you enjoyed the video & blog, and that you will like and subscribe and explore my other content in the future!