Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#41

Post by laurieg » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:01 AM UTC

I think hiding your identity and not wanting to be recognised by your co-workers/old school friends/exes is a big reason in Japan. Surgical masks just have the handy excuse built in: "Oh, I felt like I was getting a little bit of a cold".

I was walking down the street in Japan and walked past my company's receptionist wearing a mask. We made eye contact but she didn't react in the slightest. That only added to the awkwardness when she found out we were both going to the same party only minutes later...

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#42

Post by coldtea » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:04 AM UTC

vhb wrote: post #17

Something that shocked me while visiting Korea was a friend explaining to me that a mask is the only way for her to go out without makeup. The societal pressure on appearance is so high, that just going to the grocery shopping without makeup is seen a socially unacceptable. The simplest way around it is to hide your face, and the best way to do so is to wear a surgical mask. On a side note, in Korea, this is not rese…

>The societal pressure on appearance is so high, that just going to the grocery shopping without makeup is seen a socially unacceptable.

Well, "socially unacceptable" if you're superficial and want to be popular and trendy.

I have a few Korean friends and they don't particularly care.

So, it's as much "pressure" as wearing brand name clothes would be in the Valley in the 90s.

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#43

Post by latchkey » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:05 AM UTC

runn1ng wrote: post #29

latchkey wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Vietnam most don't wear surgical masks. We use fabric ones generally out of cotton. They do protect against larger dust particles while driving, which is why I wear them, but as said above, Vietnamese mostly wear them to protect skin from the sun. The higher quality masks are really just too hot to wear as they do not breath enough. There is something called a Lead Ninja, which is a woman on a typical motorbike (H…

huh after experiences otherwhere in Asia, Vietnam is very void of bugs, compared to Thailand for example. Someone told me it's mainly because of napalm in the war. Who knows

Napalm seems like a bit of a stretch.

My experience is that it is because of the high number of swallow bird houses.

If you drive around (I've driven most of the southern end of VN and Cambodia), the multi story, windowless buildings are everywhere and in towns with a lot of them, far fewer bugs. The Vice article quotes 4200 houses... my guess is that it is 10x higher than that.

I'm currently in Hoi An and there is a ton of bugs here and not as many bird houses.

http://vietnamnews.vn/sunday/features/216083/swallow-nest-fa...

https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/ev8da4/farming-edibl...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_bird%27s_nest

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#44

Post by Veen » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:14 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #42

vhb wrote: post #17

Something that shocked me while visiting Korea was a friend explaining to me that a mask is the only way for her to go out without makeup. The societal pressure on appearance is so high, that just going to the grocery shopping without makeup is seen a socially unacceptable. The simplest way around it is to hide your face, and the best way to do so is to wear a surgical mask. On a side note, in Korea, this is not rese…

> The societal pressure on appearance is so high, that just going to the grocery shopping without makeup is seen a socially unacceptable. Well, "socially unacceptable" if you're superficial and want to be popular and trendy. I have a few Korean friends and they don't particularly care. So, it's as much "pressure" as wearing brand name clothes would be in the Valley in the 90s.

> if you're superficial and want to be popular and trendy

You can be concerned about being popular and trendy without being superficial. Ignoring fashion, style, and appearance standards can hurt your life chances and your relationships with other people. In societies where popularity and trendiness signal and enhance status, it's rational to be concerned about them.

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#45

Post by marcus_holmes » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:15 AM UTC

In SE Asia, you don't wear a mask to protect you from other people's germs. You wear one to indicate to other people that you are currently unwell, and protect them from your germs.

The article is pure uninformed speculative bullshit

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#46

Post by marcus_holmes » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:17 AM UTC

rhacker wrote: post #24

resoluteteeth wrote: post #4

Surgical masks don't protect you against airborne viruses, but if you wear one when you have a cold it does help protect other people from viruses in your snot/water particles. The facts about this are fairly well known in Japan now (although there may still be people who wear masks in the misguided hope that they won't catch other people's colds despite), so it's not very accurate to try to imply that use of surgica…

My wife stays the FUCK away from people wearing them - she thinks they are all ebola carriers. I think that alone is what keeps the mask wearers healthy - all the americans think the mask wearer is the sick one.

that's absolutely true. Well, not the ebola part.

It's one of the examples I use to demonstrate differences between Western and Eastern culture:

in the West we would only wear a mask if we were worried about being infected with other people's germs.

In the East they wear a mask to indicate that they are unwell and to stop other people from being infected with their germs.

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#47

Post by dgarceran » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:20 AM UTC

mikekchar wrote: post #37

fyfy18 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of a tangent, but in Japan what's the situation with taking time off work if you are ill and sick pay?

I can only give you my experience (working as a civil servant, teaching English in a public high school). People generally have 20 days of vacation and 20 days of sick leave per year. You can get more sick leave if there is a good reason (i.e. if you are hospitalised), but at some point I think disability kicks in. I can tell you (since I now have my own company) that disability insurance is private, so the details w…

Thank you very much for this explanation. It reminded a bit when I read The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict. I visited Japan (and stayed with locals all the time) this last year after reading that book and I didn't see most of these rigid descriptions Ruth Benedict explained there, but I felt like they have this kind of work culture that is way different than mine in Spain.

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#48

Post by freetime2 » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:41 AM UTC

scarygliders wrote: post #28

My wife is Japanese and I lived in Japan for 6 years. The main reason I've been informed by family and friends for wearing the masks, is to prevent others from catching their cold/flu, as a courtesy. I don't think that article (which I've read before) is a particularly good one - in my opinion it highlights the 'outlier' reasons rather than what in my experience is the main reason, cited above.

The article does cite that reason.

> A second global flu epidemic in 1934 cemented Japan’s love affair with the facemask, which began to be worn with regularity during the winter months—primarily, given Japan’s obsession with social courtesy, by cough-and-cold victims seeking to avoid transmitting their germs to others, rather than healthy people looking to prevent the onset of illness.

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#49

Post by oblio » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:45 AM UTC

dgarceran wrote: post #47

mikekchar wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only give you my experience (working as a civil servant, teaching English in a public high school). People generally have 20 days of vacation and 20 days of sick leave per year. You can get more sick leave if there is a good reason (i.e. if you are hospitalised), but at some point I think disability kicks in. I can tell you (since I now have my own company) that disability insurance is private, so the details w…

Thank you very much for this explanation. It reminded a bit when I read The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict. I visited Japan (and stayed with locals all the time) this last year after reading that book and I didn't see most of these rigid descriptions Ruth Benedict explained there, but I felt like they have this kind of work culture that is way different than mine in Spain.

You guys are probably at the other ends of the spectrum, and not only geographically :p

Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

#50

Post by tokyoHacker » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 9:47 AM UTC

Anecdote: I am right now travelling in a metro train bound for Tokyo. Of the 17 people around me, 12 of them have masks on them. Pollen allergy is one that could explain such high numbers of masked people at this time of the year.