LIFE / WEEK 3

Sniffle, sneeze — and why's all that cedar pollen still in the air?

In 2006, Tokyo's governor declared war on the capital's allergenic forests. But what has it achieved?

Source of trouble: A Tokyo Metropolitan Goverment worker points out the male flowers on a cedar tree at Okutama-bashi Bridge in Ome City, western Tokyo. The flowers' powdery, yellow-tinged pollen is causing millions to suffer allergic symptoms. | EDAN CORKILL

By Edan Corkill

Mar 15, 2009

For more than 3 million Tokyo residents who seasonally suffer from sniffly, sneezy kafunsho (pollen allergy), the sight of Gov. Shintaro Ishihara applying an ax to the trunk of a pollen-producing cedar back in 2006 was enough to bring tears of joy to their already itchy eyes.

"The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is going to do something about a problem that afflicts a quarter of the city's residents," said Ishihara (himself then a recent sufferer), before announcing that 1.8 million of the trees would be cut down over the next 10 years.

It sounded like a great idea.

Sniffle, sneeze — and why's all that cedar pollen still in the air?

In 2006, Tokyo's governor declared war on the capital's allergenic forests. But what has it achieved?

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