Itchy eyes

The unusually mild weather has been nice in one respect, but unfortunately it means that the hayfever season has started a little early this year. The offending pollen comes from the Japanese cedar, and the reason the pollen problem is so bad is due to a forestry policy some years ago, when it was decided to plant thousands more of these trees.

It's estimated that roughly one in five people in Japan suffer from hayfever (with early spring being the worst time), and unfortunatley for me, I'm part of that 20%. So for the next few weeks, I'll have itchy eyes, a runny nose and I'll sneeze a few dozen times a day.