Why Japanese Restaurants Still Can't Stop Wearing Masks (Conclusion of the 'Ushio' Roundtable Discussion)
The current issue of Ushio (August issue) features a contribution following the conclusion of a reading roundtable discussion that lasted for about two years. The participants were Yoko Iwama, Hiroshi Kainuma, Toshinao Sasaki, and Kaito Tohata, and of course, I also contributed a piece.
With permission, I am posting the full text of my article (it is also okay to repost it to Agora!). The title given by the editorial department is "A Free Space Where Dissent Is Not Excluded," but basically, I am writing about the lack of freedom for restaurant staff who cannot take off their masks.
At the wrap-up party for our fun roundtable discussion that lasted over two years, we were treated to some wonderful Japanese cuisine, but there was one thing that cast a shadow over my heart.
Even in this year of 2025, all the people serving food were wearing masks. It ruins the beautiful kimono, and I am sure foreign tourists visiting for inbound travel would be disappointed. Above all, the staff themselves must not be able to work happily.
During the COVID-19 pandemic that began five years ago, what was needed most of all was a place where one could say, "This is strange!" However, that did not exist. What existed was an information environment divorced from reality, where claims were issued from the stance of a single expert perspective, asserting that "this is the only truth," and counterarguments were treated as if they did not exist.
For example, if there were a claim that "constitutionally, the Self-Defense Forces are unconstitutional" (which there actually is), people usually wouldn't say, "Well, let's get rid of the Self-Defense Forces." It is the same as how a claim that "as a security expert, the Self-Defense Forces are necessary" does not lead to an immediate decision to suspend the Constitution.
However, that is a story for peacetime; when it comes to "wartime," where society falls into a panic due to an abnormal situation, such sensibilities easily vanish, and the COVID experience teaches us that only "experts" in a single field stand out and monopolize the discourse. And the aftereffects continue as the bizarre sight of masks with kimono, even after the original trigger has been forgotten.
That is why we must constantly strengthen "peacetime". We must constantly confirm and cultivate a common sense that our original way of being is to always have multiple perspectives, not to exclude dissent, and to be able to discuss things even if we do not reach a consensus.
Already in 1983, the critic Atsushi Eto stated, "The forum must at least be a forum, and not a 'non-discussing platform'" (see my book Atsushi Eto and Norihiro Kato, Bungeishunju). If I were to paraphrase that, it would be, "Specialization must, broadly speaking, be specialization, and must not block all paths."
Discussing without taboos does not mean, as is significantly misunderstood, having a taste for the grotesque or mocking common sense. Rather, for the sake of free discussion that does not set constraints on the themes being discussed, manners that respect differences in position and expertise are necessary.
Showing a model of such "socializing that involves a sense of others" was a major role of the forum in Japan. I would be happy if this project remains in the reader's heart as one of the triggers to remember that.
Changed to Arabic numerals, added emphasis
The header was borrowed from a blog post on April 9, 2020, two days after the first state of emergency was declared (it does not mean I ate at this restaurant). While there may have been aspects that were unavoidable at the beginning, it is abnormal that it still cannot be stopped even after more than five years.
At the time, it was hyped as the New Normal, but is there anyone who is happy that kimono-clad staff are wearing masks? Thinking normally, we should return to the Old way without masks, but the reason we can't do that is probably because for Japanese people today, a Normal does not exist in the first place.
It is often said, but "norm" originally means "standard." In other words, it is not just Normal because everyone is doing it; unless you have an ethical sense that doing so is proper, you actually cannot maintain a standard.
So, during the COVID-19 pandemic when people were talking about the New Normal, what did the Japanese do? Didn't they create a trend where it's fine to appear remotely from overseas, and praise people who mocked norms by saying things like, "That's just your impression, right?," "Why do I have to respect that?" and "Whoa, those who defy us should commit collective seppuku!"? (bitter smile)
Thus, the content of Normal transformed into a pure peer pressure where "there is no right or wrong, it's just good if everyone is in line," and as a result, without asking internally "is this right?", simply matching the appearance to those around you became the top priority. In Japan.
The end result of that is the miserable state of being the only country in the world that "still wears masks" and "masks with kimono" even though we are supposed to be earning money from inbound tourism, but actually there is a root to why it became like that. I pointed this out in May 2023, just before the COVID-19 pandemic ended, when the handling of the virus became a "Class 5 infectious disease."
The reason we have continued to wear masks is due to a different reason entirely from modern science. It is a kind of folk religion where we confess to each other the faith that "I am serious" and "I will not break your harmony" to the local groups around us that we encounter in our daily lives.
Even though the trigger for its birth was the arrival of missionaries, what has now become the "mask faith" that remains only in our country in the world is equivalent to "Hidden Christianity," which grew into content separate and unique from orthodox Christianity under the context unique to Japan.
Yes. That's it. Not breaking harmony in appearance has been the foundation of social order in Japan since the Edo period, so once you get stuck in a place where you think, "Well, if I just wear a mask, I won't be blamed by those around me," you can't get out.
It's not widely known, but the 'fumi-e' (picture-stepping) of the Hidden Christians was exactly that. Rather than delving into an individual's inner thoughts to manage their ideology, it was more like, 'As long as you do this for now, we will' leave you alone sort of thing.
What is interesting in contrast to the COVID-19 pandemic is the case of the Hidden Christians discovered in the Amakusa region in 1805, during the late Edo period (the Amakusa Kure). It turned out that one-third of the entire population were Christians and if the authorities had taken a hardline approach and suppressed everyone, it would have led to a situation where the economy would not function. Therefore, the feudal lords did not consider them Christians, dismissing it as a mere 'misunderstanding,' and after having them hand over the religious objects they were worshipping, they were
acquitted simply by stepping on the fumi-e. Our modern mentality of 'as long as you wear a mask,' we will turn a blind eye to travel and dining out, is not actually that different from the early modern religious control idea of 'as long as you step on the fumi-e,' we will stop prying any further.
When I write this, people often pop up to pick a fight, saying things like, 'You're acting high and mighty, but isn't this just hindsight?' But that's not the case. Back in May 2020, while we were still in the first state of emergency, I was already writing this in a national newspaper.
During the holidays under COVID self-restraint, I spent time eating out as much as possible. If I don't use them at times like this, I cannot protect the restaurants that have taken care of me. I feel that from around the time the extension of the state of emergency was reported, the number of people
without masks on the streets began to increase. This is natural; it is strange to walk through a deserted main street holding one's breath in the first place. (Omitted) Even if I can only pay for one person, the staff at the restaurant show me a heartfelt smile. It is only through connections with such
'individuals' with a sense of physical presence
that individualism in an abstract sense can take root, and not the other way around.
May 14, 2020
The forum of public discourse must, at the very least, be a forum for discussion. Those who want to read articles that are popular by pandering to social trends and peer pressure should go to social media or Yahoo! Comments.
The forum of public discourse must not be a 'forum that does not discuss.' It must not be one that enforces 'speech control' by standardizing appearances and aligning arguments. Instead, it must take the lead in featuring editorials that make readers aware of the perspectives those things cover up and that shake their inner selves.
Now, just over two years after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, as convenient historical revisionism is already on the rise, it is necessary to pass on the mistakes of this era, which left enormous aftereffects on society as a whole, based on the facts.
It was an honor to be able to send that message through the roundtable discussion in the opinion magazine 'Ushio.' While thanking my fellow participants and the editorial department, I ask all readers to look forward to the new book I am currently writing as I aim to summarize the COVID era.
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