Face masks are popular in Japan. If Japanese people have a cold or flu, they wear masks. There is no embarassemt about it. They don`t want to spread their germs around and they don`t want to ingest anybody else`s germs. The wearing of masks is completely normal in Japan.
Shoud make them obligatory for all smokers in british pubs, then their cigarettes would not reach their mouths and they could make a start giving up their filthy poisonous anti-social habbit.
The Japanese also throw away tissues as soon as they have used them. Quite simply, they have cleaner habits than the British (who leap into accusations of derangement against anyone who advocates cleaner habits).
Only my opinion of course, but wearing a face mask as standard isn't about being cleaner, it's about being obsessive.
Especially as they have the highest rate of cigarette smoking in the world. Most of them have probably wrecked their lungs anyway - a few germs or smog won't make much difference LOL
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Ten days ago I was in Rome and whilst inside St Peters basilica I noticed a girl who looked Japanese, Korean or Chinese wearing one of these masks. I must say it looked a little odd inside a Church.