Storytime

  • The Origin of Face Masks in Japan

    story by Merel de Wit.

    In Japan, masks had already been worn regularly during health hazards from as early as the eighteenth century. But the history of face masks in Japan is not as straightforward as it may seem. Overtime, mask-wearing has lost and regained its originally intended purpose; from health protection device to multipurpose item. In order to decipher some of these mask-wearing developments, we will be looking at a few historical and contemporary face masks in Japan.

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