Japan dreads the arrival of spring. From late February through April each year, pollen from cedar and cypress trees blankets the archipelago, causing nearly half of Japan's population to suffer from allergic rhinitis. Analysts estimate the annual socioeconomic losses from reduced consumption and declining productivity reach several trillion won.
According to the Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, the proportion of hay fever sufferers in Japan more than doubled over 20 years, rising from 19.6% in 1998 to 42.5% in 2019. The Japan Weather Association forecasts that pollen dispersal in some regions, including Shikoku and Kansai, will be more than double last year's levels.
The economic impact is substantial. Dai-ichi Life Insurance estimates that reduced outings, slower consumption, and increased medical expenses will cut real household spending by 380 billion yen (approximately 3.4 trillion won) during the January-March period.
Businesses are also taking a direct hit. In a survey released last month by recruitment and advertising firm Mynavi, about 70% of office workers with pollen allergies said they find it "difficult to concentrate on computer work."
The treatment market is expanding accordingly. According to market research firm Fuji Keizai, Japan's rhinitis medication market reached 27.15 billion yen in 2023, up 9.7% from the previous year.
The main culprit behind pollen allergies is cedar trees, which the Japanese government planted extensively after World War II to restore devastated forests. According to Japan's Forestry Agency, cedar accounts for 44% of the nation's 10.2 million hectares of planted forests as of 2017. As logging declined due to competition from imported timber, these neglected cedar forests have been releasing massive amounts of pollen every year for decades.
The Japanese government has belatedly launched remediation efforts. It has set targets to reduce planted cedar forests by 20% within 10 years and cut pollen output to half of current levels within 30 years. Production of sublingual immunotherapy medication, which improves allergic constitution, will also be expanded from 250,000 doses to 500,000 doses by 2025.
However, experts say the cedar problem accumulated over decades cannot be solved quickly. For the foreseeable future, spring in Japan will remain a season difficult to endure without masks and eye drops.