Hay fever season has arrived in the Kanto region to the dismay of people who every year suffer sneezing, runny noses and itchy eyes from "sugi" cedar or "hinoki" cypress pollen.
Weathernews Inc. said the allergy season arrived a week to 10 days earlier than last year.
The company said that on Jan. 24, more than 30 percent of its pollen counting devices installed across Tokyo detected a daily count of 10 particles of cedar pollen or more, the level that causes hay fever symptoms in sensitive sufferers. Two days later, about 90 percent of the devices in Tokyo detected that level of pollen.