In masks we trust: Commuters who are mostly masked waiting for traffic lights at a crossing in Shinjuku district of Tokyo on the first day of reduced mask requirements. — AFP
Tokyo: Japan’s government eased its mask guidelines, recommending them only on crowded trains and in hospitals or care homes, but there was little sign residents were keen to unmask.
Japan has never had a mask mandate, but residents have adhered to guidelines to wear them indoors and outside from the early days of the pandemic, and masks were common even pre-Covid during cold and hayfever seasons.
