I remember an American friend of mine showing me a photo like the one below, and commenting that face masks were not very good at stopping you getting infected, especially the simple one shown here. I think he missed the point. Japanese no doubt do sometimes wear face masks for their own benefit, but the main reason they wear them is that they have a cold or infection and don’t want to spread it to other people. Interesting shift of mindset for Westerners perhaps, and maybe time we adopted this habit?
Personal Footnote: I am sick at the moment perhaps from someone who wasn’t Japanese and wasn’t wearing a face mask. I am not going out, but if I did I wish I had a face mask. And this post is also dedicated to Chrissie who first taught me about the ‘pro-social’.
