Dealing with Allergies in Japan

In this article I'll talk about how you can fight the hay fever while living in Japan.

In the United States

When I lived in the United States, I did have allergies aka the hay fever. However, it was quite strange. I only had allergies when I lived in Lawrence. I lived in Lawrence for three years while I went to school. I had it extremely bad my first year of university.
I didn't actually know what was happening because I hadn't had allergies up until that point. My friend had to inform me about allergies. She told me that allergies can basically cause cold symptoms. She had to inform me because I thought I had a cold. However, when I took cold medicine, it didn't seem to help my symptoms at all. But after I tried Benadryl, I was good to go. You know except the extreme drowsiness you get from Benadryl.
However, when I went back to my hometown, I was completely okay. I didn't have allergies again after moving home. I think it may be because I went outside a lot more in Lawrence. I also think there are a lot more flowers there than what we have in my hometown. So, I guess the air is probably cleaner lol.

In Japan

My first year in Japan, I was completely okay. I got colds often, but that was due to me working with children. Oh, and I was living in a new country, so you need to get use to the new germs. But as far as allergies went, I was golden.
No, my problems didn't start for quite some time. I believe it was either my second year in Japan, or it had been a year and a half when the allergies hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was in complete denial. I thought that I had been living in Japan for quite some time. I believed that it was impossible for the allergies to suddenly hit after ALL this time. Of course, I was wrong. I had allergies for sure.
My husband has extremely bad hay fever. He needs to go to the doctor to get prescription medicine. The over the counter medicine doesn't work for him. Truthfully, I have yet to find a medicine that works well for my allergies. If I do find one, I'll try to give you some tips.
My husband informed me on why the pollen is so strong in Japan. The reason is because of pine trees. Japan had told everyone to plant pine trees, you know to go green and all. So, they planted a WHOLE BUNCH of trees. Well, now they have all these trees which is great, but they emit a crap ton of pollen. So, now every spring, the trees emit pollen and a lot of people get the hay fever during this time.

This Year

I had allergies really bad last year, and now I'm having them really bad this year. My throat was hurting so badly, and I remembered that my nose is sensitive, and it WILL cause problems with my throat.

I now have to wear a mask when I'm outside so that I don't breathe in the pollen. In Japan, you can literally smell and FEEL the pollen. The pollen gets stuck on your skin, making you itch, and it gets stuck in your hair. It's that intense. I have to wear the mask which is quite difficult now. Like I stated before, EVERY SINGLE store that I go to in order to buy a mask, has no masks!! I know that they are giving them to the cities that need them most. However, due to the hay fever me and a lot of other people need the masks now as well. And considering that those masks do nothing for the Coronavirus I don't see why they need them.

When I went to visit the United States again in September, I was surprised to find that I had allergies AGAIN!! I couldn't be outside for a long period of time because of it. At my sister's apartment complex, they had beautiful flowers EVERY WHERE. It gave me a complete headache LOL. So, I tried to stay inside as much as possible.

Good luck on fighting allergies no matter where you are in the world. I know there are more pressing things at hand now, but allergies can make your life quite miserable as well.