Japan has begun ministerial-level meetings on fighting hay fever, though a slip of the tongue by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may have led to their launch.
On Friday, Kishida kicked off a series of high-level meetings to discuss measures against pollen allergies, giving related ministers until June to come up with an outline of countermeasures for the next 10 years.
Measures likely to be included are the periodic thinning of cedar trees, the utilization of the trees as timber and replanting forests with trees that produce less pollen.