Why do you see people in Japan wearing surgical masks while walking down the street??

because there's so many people so close together it's a percaution agianst getting sick. japan is about the size of california and has about the population of the US so imaginge EVERYONE in the US moving to California. you'd wear a mask too.Why do you see people in Japan wearing surgical masks while walking down the street??
In Japan, it is considered rude to walk around with your face uncovered if you are sick. This is to keep from making other people ill with whatever is afflicting you.





Japanese culture is much more concerned with courtesy than is ours.Why do you see people in Japan wearing surgical masks while walking down the street??
Tamyururu is spot on!!
A friend who visited Japan told me that Atmosphere is really polluted over there.


Sometimes they have good days where the polluted air is above the city and some days the pollution settles lower in the city which is why they need to wear masks or stay indoors. I would of thought it was worse than standing between four old trucks bellowing smoke.
You might be thinking of older pictures of people in Hong Kong (not Japan as I recall) wearing masks when SARS was at its peak.





SARS is a contagious virus that you can get by breathing it in if it's in the air around you. They were frankly terrified of such a thing. I'm not sure that they still wear them, though.
They are scared of the bird flu
to avoid pollutants....
Polution.





People are worried about breathing in fumes etc.
A ton of answers, and no one is really right.





The biggest reason for it in the spring and summer is hayfever. The easiest way to avoid allergies is to wear a mask that filters the pollen out. One of the common trees in Japan produces a very strong allergenic pollen - and most people don`t enjoy being stuffed up.





During the fall and winter, it is to avoid catching colds or spreading your cold to others. And to avoid having people see your sniffly nose. People don`t like to blow their noses in public, and if your nose is really running, well... Sniffling alone can`t always keep up.





Japan is NOT that polluted, and no one is all that worried about bird flu. That`s the US.
lol SARS?!!! the Uk had more SARS then japan. which was 1. lol its because in tokyo even the air smells bad for pollution so they wear a mask.
The Avian Flu! Known to us as the Bird Flu!
There are more than one reason for this,the first is the deadly H5N1 Virus,also known as bird flu is spreading all over Asia.The other reason is beacause Japan has one of this highest percentages of deadly fumes in the air due to the thousands of factories and millions of cars.