The Prime Minister of Japan promised on Friday to tackle an insidious enemy which, each year, causes enormous economic damage and makes life difficult for citizens… Pollen.
“Hay fever is a national problem that affects many people in Japan,” he said at a meeting on the subject on Friday, urging officials to develop measures to combat the scourge by month of June.
Spring in Japan is often associated with cherry blossoms and plenty of picnics in parks, but for many it also means sneezing.
During this season, the vast expanses of cedars in the country – among others – release powerful clouds of pollen, which oblige many people to wear the mask, special glasses and to be prescribed medication.
And this year the problem has reached proportions unprecedented in a decade, experts say, prompting the country’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, to come up with a national plan to tackle it.
Among the proposals: the felling of cedars to replace them with species that produce less pollen, or the use of artificial intelligence, such as supercomputers, to “fundamentally improve” the Japanese hay fever forecasting system, listed the Minister of Territorial Planning, Tetsuo Saito, before the press.
This seasonal allergy affects about 40% of the Japanese population, according to a national survey.
And its economic impact is considerable because the people affected lose productivity.
According to a 2020 survey by electronics giant Panasonic, the country suffers an economic loss of more than 220 billion yen (about 1.5 billion euros) every day at the height of the pollen season.
04/14/2023 06:55:51 – Tokyo (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
