Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, has committed to combat the plague of hay fever and referred to the pollen allergy as a health crisis that needs immediate government action. This week, Kishida told a parliamentary committee that hay fever has turned into a "social problem," adding that he would collaborate with ministers to come up with a solution as pollen levels in Tokyo reached their highest level in ten years. He stated, "We want to get results," according to regional media. In answer to a query from a member of parliament from the dominant Liberal Democratic party, who referred to the allergy as a "national disease" and predicted that Kishida would "go down in history" if he succeeded in curing it, Kishida made the remarks.

According to reports, 40% of Japanese people start to exhibit hay fever symptoms in the beginning of the year when the vast majority of the nation's cedar and cypress trees start to release their pollen, which causes itchy, watery eyes and sneezing. Despite the recent removal of official recommendations to use facial coverings to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the most recent outbreak helps to explain why so many individuals still choose to wear masks outside. Hay fever is quite common in Japan, which is attributed to a post-war reforestation drive that saw trees being planted quickly to support the nation's building sector. In the 1970s and 1980s, as the cost of imported building materials decreased, Japanese trees were allowed to get more dense, which brought to suffering.

This year’s pollen season has sparked a rush on antihistamine and other products from nasal sprays to protective glasses with some shops reporting a doubling in sales compared with the first three months of 2022. Intage, a marketing research and analysis firm, said sales of treatments such as anti-inflammatory nasal sprays more than doubled in the week from 27 February, while those of anti-allergy eyedrops rose 233%, the Japan Times reported. Warmer-the-usual temperatures have only made matters worse for sufferers, with the release of pollen in some areas starting up to two weeks earlier than last year, according to the Japan Weather Association.