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Interesting thing about Japan, is the complete acceptance of people wearing surgical masks in public (it's considered to be polite if you are ill). Makes it a
by ghshephard 10y ago
Interesting thing about Japan, is the complete acceptance of people wearing surgical masks in public (it's considered to be polite if you are ill). Makes it a lot harder to identify people from video surveillance.
- nolok 10y agoThis a south/east/south-east asian thing, not specific to japanese. You will find the same in vietnam, korea, cambodia, thailand, taiwan, ...
- _kyran 10y agoYou will find it elsewhere in SEA, but the prevalence in Japan is extremely high. I've been in train carriages where 40% of its passengers are wearing them.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoAlso Hong Kong. I always thought it may be related to population density. Another thing I've noticed in Hong Kong is sanitizing gel dispensers placed pretty much everywhere - corridors in metro stations, hotels, etc. Seems reasonable with the amount of people living there per square meter of space.
- micv 10y agoI'm not sure it's population density or at least not that alone. There are parts of the West with comparably high densities, especially in large cities, and covering your face is generally frowned upon. I suspect that the cultural focus on cleanliness has a lot to do with it, but given that it's Hacker News there may be someone with a more exact idea of the origin.
- mistermann 10y agoAllergies is one major motivator.
- DasIch 10y agoAllergies should be a good reason not do that, at least from a public health perspective.
- plaguuuuuu 10y agoYou wear one if you're sick. So that you don't get other people sick basically. Contrast with my experience in Sydney, where catching the bus during flu season is bloody hazardous. Being coughed and sneezed on gets old quickly, so I totally understand the surgical mask thing; it's a basic courtesy.
- eru 10y agoYes. Though I am not sure if it's actually effective, or only a superficial courtesy.
- ducklord 10y agoIt's most likely due to the country's brush with SARS and avian flu. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-21680682 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-21680682
- pbourke 10y agoI wonder if this is a consequence of the SARS outbreak ~10 years ago.
- Vivtek 10y agoNo, it predates it, to the 80's at least, to my personal knowledge, and I have no reason think it's not older than that.
- atmosx 10y agoIn Turkey a lot of women wear burkas or some variation (depending on the specific religion sub-division). In Greece I've seen people (I might have done it myself) stopping with a motorcycle in the ATM and withdrawing money wearing a helmet and leaving, 90 seconds in total. This can't be done in some ATMs which require you to look at the camera before entering the ATM room[1]. However, that's like 5% of the available ATMs. [1] In Greece this is illegal. The fact that Banks for years get away with taking pictures without any kind of explicit agreement adds to the narrative that Greece is (officially now) a protectorate and banks are WAY above state where it matters.
- djrogers 10y agoWait, it's against the law for me to photograph someone entering my property?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- pjc50 10y agoEuropean data protection rules apply to CCTV systems; they're generally legal with signs and appropriate policy. (Compare US law on taping phone conversations)
- zo1 10y agoThe act of taking the photograph is probably not illegal. But something to the tune of "All user biometrics shall only be stored with the consent of the subject." pretty much means it is illegal to do so, unless you have some sort of sign. This type of law is usually under the guise of protection of personal information, or some other flag. Though the laws vary in many countries. For the sake of argument, I'm simply saying it's not illegal to photograph someone entering your property in order to point out how "secondary" or "related" laws apply without ever explicitly being defined so.
- atmosx 10y agoWithout his consent? Absolutely. In Greece the police will have you remove any camera that faces the street (even a small chunk of it) if you're not a bank of course. Now when we're talking about private property, written consent about what you do with that data is obligatory. Indeed these banks receive tons of lawsuits every year, but if there's something more rotten in Greece than the economy is the justice estate...
- srdeveng 10y agoThe reason often varies depending on the Asian country and with varying level of social acceptance. It is not limited to illness (contraction or spreading). For example, in Taiwan, females will wear the mask to block the sun in an attempt to prevent freckles. They are also often used to combat pollution. Many choose to only wear while riding scooters, while others any time outdoors. In some countries masks have become commonplace such that decorative fashionable masks are sold at convenience stores.
- tamana 10y agoInteresting that Asians covering their faces is so received so differently from Middle Easternern women covering their faces.
- mistermann 10y agoOne is for medical reasons and by choice, the other is for religious reasons and "by choice".
- gotchange 10y agoTotally different beasts. Muslim women covering their whole body but their eyes is way more difficult to identify for law enforcement since they have only the eyes as one data point to uncover the identity while for Asian folks who cover their mouth - not their face, huge difference -, you'd still get the eyes - provided that they are not covered by sunglasses -, the hair - provided that they are not wearing ridiculous hat -, body shape and probably gait as data points to work on in their search. All in all, it's still a better situation for the latter than the former when it comes to law enforcement.
- eru 10y agoNot quite so different. There are huge discussions about the headscarf in Europe, which doesn't cover the whole face like a Burkha.
- SixSigma 10y agoAsia is a very big place. Stalin was as Asian.
- oh_sigh 10y agoThat's because it isn't the act of covering your face that people find offensive, it's the reason behind it.
- raingrove 10y agoIt has to do with the fact that you are still expected to show up at work when you have a cold or other similar "minor" illnesses. It's the same in Korea and other Asian countries.
- 20andup 10y agoThat's not entirely accurate. It's because of H5N1 outbreak 10 years back that people have become a lot more conscious about airborne diseases. It is polite to wear a mask when you are sick so that you don't spread it to other people when you cough or sneeze.
- libria 10y agoI feel like this could be solved with a decent VPN + an occasional webcam.
- minikomi 10y agoHaving lived in Japan for around 10 years, in my experience, the vast majority of mask wearers are doing so because of allergies (particularly Sugi). It's pretty rough for a lot of people - particularly in the early spring months. Also why air purifiers are big business here.
- intopieces 10y agoHong Kong is the same way -- and I can't blame them. SARS was terrifying.
- rabboRubble 10y agoA great number of the mask users in Japan are allergy sufferers. The Forestry agency in Japan planted mono-culture trees, fast growing cedar. The pollen from these trees waft from the cedar farms in yellow clouds. Having a single predominate plant species putting out so much pollen triggers awful allergies for those people who are sensitive. And triggers normal-bad allergies in people who might not have become allergic without the large exposure to that mono-culture pollen.
- joshmn 10y agoYet, in the US, if you're wearing a mask, the majority will think you're a terrorist. What a world we live in.
- gozur88 10y agoA ski mask, maybe. If you're wearing a surgical mask people will think you're sick.
- pcr0 10y agoI bet it had to do with the 2003 SARS epidemic in Hong Kong, as is also the case in other nearby Asian cities/countries like Taiwan and Singapore. I'm from HK and to the best of my memory the practice never existed before the epidemic. During the epidemic, anywhere you went in public, there were at least 8/10 people wearing masks, thanks in part to huge public (TV/print) campaigns by the government and places like schools/clinics/hospitals providing free masks. That is just one of many counter measures that live on to this day. Another one is that all elevators and escalators have stickers or signs stating how many times/day and when it was last disinfected, and elevators tend to have a big clear plastic sheet covering all the buttons.