Job Discussion Forums

[Ryu Hayabusa]

Hello everyone. I'm a long-time lurker and I want to thank everyone who contributes positively to this forum. I've learned a lot from reading your posts.

I taught English in Seoul for a year and I was bothered by the low air quality. I found these great two sites which monitored the air quality for Korean cities.

http://eng.airkorea.or.kr/

http://www.seoul.amedd.army.mil/sites/yellowsand/default.asp

Does anyone know of any similar sites for Japan? It doesn't matter if they're not in English. I want to know what the air quality is like for various cities and prefectures in Japan. I've read that Tokyo is, not surprisingly, dirty in this regard. What about cities in Kyushu or Shikoku?

Also, in Korea I was able to rent a very good Woongjin air purifier from a major department store for the equivalent of approximately $50 CAD a month. Am I correct in assuming that I will be able to do the same in any major Japanese city?

Thanks

[gaijinalways]

I use two air filters in my house now as I am sensitive to dust and pollen particles (yes, I am one of those sugi, Japanese cedar, allergy sufferers). They certainly weren't that cheap, ranging more around 10,000 yen each. As to a website tracking air pollution, I'm sure one of the other posters may be able to dig something up for you, but IMO, the pollution is quite worse in Seoul (but better than Bangkok or Taipei).

[ironopolis]

The air quality you'll encounter in Japan depends very much on where you are. As someone who's spent a lot of time in Seoul, I'd say you probably aren't going to end up much worse off in many parts of Japan than you would be in central Seoul or Incheon. However, there are some surprises in places you'd expect to be better off. Quite a lot of the originally beautiful coast of northern Shikoku and north eastern Kyushu has some pretty nasty smoke belching out of it.

Whilst I reckon you're likely to find the air a little bit better than in Seoul, ironically, in Japan, the issue of air quality seems to be taken a lot less seriously. I've often seen news items in the Korean media making an issue out of poor air quality and demanding that it be addressed. In Japan, it seems to get brushed under the carpet a lot more, as do pollution issues generally - a bit of research into Japan's nuclear power industry may prove particularly scary, for example. None of the Seoulites I know would seriously deny that air quality in their city is very poor and people often extol the virtues of getting out of the city to the cleaner mountain air for that very reason. Whereas here I've had people claim with a straight face that all those toxic looking clouds from that chemical plant over there are actually good for the air!!

[Ryu Hayabusa]

Thanks for the info, folks!

[milkweedma]

Let's try to tell it how it is or at least how I see it.
Seoul has poor air quality as other posters have said but it is not as poor as Taipei or Bangers but it's bad enough to make most people sick a lot of the time and indeed many people are forced to move to other areas of Korea or go home for this very reason. The whole of the rest of Korea has a haze accross it most of the time probably as a result of China and its' close proximity. Everyone in Korea has surplus thick mucous running down the back of their throats because of the poor air quality hence the 'spitting in the streets' activity you see the locals perform all the time.
For me the entire west coast of Taiwan is HEAVILY polluted and I left that country because of severe respiritory problems after a long period of constant mild sicknesses.
My question to you guys living and working in Japan is: is Japan's air quality poor enough and large enough to make the population sicker than it should be, similar to what I have described in Korea?

[markle]

I've lived in the 'Kok and I can say that here, out of the big cities and major industrial areas, I have never had the same respiratory problems. BUT the hayfever situation is real. I never thought that much of it until last year (it takes a year or two to become sensitized) and then I felt terrible for a month or so.

[vancouver_syndicate]

i lived in tokyo and found the air quality better than any other part of asia i've been.

[Khyron]

I spent a year in a part of Korea that has quite a lot of air pollution, but now I'm in Tokyo. I find the air here to be a lot nicer than any major city I've been to in Korea (aside from possibly Taejeon, which seemed relatively clean to me compared to places like Incheon, Daegu and Ulsan).

If you're so bothed by bad air, then the further away you are from China, the better.

[gaijinalways]

I'd say the air in Tokyo ranks abnout the same as NYC, not great, but pretty good for a metro city. Seoul, Taipei, and Bangkok are all noticably worse, so if you moved to a Tokyo here it would be an improvement. Other areas in Japan would depend if you're on a major truck route or down wind from some major industry.

[Lyrajean]

I live in Okinawa and even in the urban parts the air is fine, but there does not seem to be any heavy industry here and the high winds probably blow all the pollution out to sea anyways.

The 2 things that do bother me (I have indoor allergies) are 1. mold and mildew 'cause of the high humidity, and 2. people smoking in many more places than I am used to back home. They've done everything but outright ban smoking back home to avoid second-hand smoke. restaurants, bars and izakaya are particularly bad.

[gaijinalways]

Very true, Japan is noted as a smoker's paradaise, though that is slowly changing with a few wards in Tokyo banning smoking, and a few discouraging it. Smoking in restaurants is one area that doesn't often seperate the smoking and nonsmoking areas well, so for people sensitive or allergic to smoke, it can be an uphill battle to get cleaner air.