What lies behind the Japanese obsession with face masks?

If there is one country where the wearing of face masks in response to the coronavirus outbreak has caused no controversy whatsoever, it is Japan. There is no debate about face masks here, and it often seems as if many Japanese would be happy to don the flimsy cloth coverings all year round, regardless of risk. To understand why, it is necessary to consider the history and the culture rather more than the science. 

The Japanese have been wearing masks of one sort or another for many centuries. The origin may have been the covering of the mouth with leaves to prevent unclean breath soiling holy artefacts in Buddhist temples in ancient times, a custom still observed today in Kyoto and Osaka.

Mask wearing became popularised during the Edo-era (1603 -1868), when relatively expensive face coverings came to be seen as signifiers of affluence. But it wasn’t until the Spanish flu epidemic, which claimed an estimated 450,000 Japanese lives, that face masks became mass-produced and affordable.