Masking became the rule around the world during the COVID-19 crisis. Most of the West has now either abandoned or become outright hostile to the practice. In Japan, however, some young people say they don’t want to take them off. Some members of this “mask generation” say they feel embarrassed about being seen in public.
Japan’s current masking habits
Japan has never been a stranger to mask-wearing. Back as far as the 1918 flu epidemic, the country masked up to prevent the spread of infection.
Since then, masking in Japan has been routine whenever someone catches a cold. It’s considered the socially acceptable thing to do. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, few people had qualms about wearing masks regularly. Even as other countries abandoned masking, many in Japan continued the practice.
What about today? Cross Marketing, a Japanese marketing firm, recently released its 2025 report on masking habits. According to Cross’s data, 56.8% of people still report wearing masks regularly, while around 25.9% say they almost never wear them.
Of the makers, 53.6% say they mask up when they go to hospitals and clinics. 44.3% do so when they have a cold, 42.7% when they ride public transit, and 42.6% when there’s a bug going around.
Why the young keep masking
It’s not surprising to see in Cross Marketing’s data that the people most liable to mask up are people in their 50s and 60s. After all, they’re the ones most at risk of severe consequences should they get sick.
However, a significant number of young people are also continuing to mask up on a regular basis. Some among this “mask generation,” who came of age during the pandemic, say it’s because they feel more comfortable hiding their faces.
Yahoo! News interviewed 10 young people who continue to mask up. According to one, college student Yajima Sari, masking isn’t uncommon among her friends. She estimates between 30 and 40 percent of her classmates are masked on a regular basis.
One student, her friend Hatanaka Hisahiro, says he started making during the pandemic and has gotten used to it. He feels “embarrassed,” he says, to reveal his face in public. Yajima agreed, saying there are days she doesn’t want to show her face or have to think about how she looks or how she expresses herself.
Some say they grew sensitive about their appearances during the pandemic because classmates would spread rumors about how they “really” looked under their masks. That’s led to quandaries around when to “reveal” oneself to a new romantic partner. One woman, Yurika, said she and a new boyfriend gradually got used to unmasking by showing one another full pictures of themselves on Instagram.
“Mask dependence”?
The prevalence of mask wearing has some worried that young people are developing a “mask dependency.” Some use the devices not to stay healthy, but because of a complex about their appearance. Indeed, Yurika says she has classmates whose faces she had never seen until she saw their pictures in the class yearbook.
Another woman, 25-year-old author Hatsuki Nanako, says she wore a mask daily after a friend told her she had a double chin. She refused to eat or drink anything at school so she could always keep it on.
Hatsuki didn’t remove her mask in public until after she went to South Korea to receive plastic surgery. She documented her struggles in a yuri manga, Goodbye Mask (さよならマスク).
Some young people say Japanese society encourages this habitual mask-wearing. To this day, it’s common to see public employees and restaurant staff masked up to protect public health.
Young people who had no choice but to adjust to masking now say they have a “complicated” relationship with the habit. Some feel they’re pulled into the habit by force of gravity.
Of course, there are still plenty of great reasons to mask up that have nothing to do with appearances, as many Yahoo! News commentators pointed out. “People have all sorts of reasons for masking,” one wrote. “There are people currently worried about hay fever. Others worried about getting sick due to the fluctuations in temperature. Many people who handle food for work are masking up. It’s not just the young.”
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Sources
マスクに関する調査（2025年）. Cross Marketing
コロナ後もマスク外せず――「素顔ギャップ」「恋愛」に戸惑う若者の本音 #今つらいあなたへ. Yahoo! Tokushū
「コロナ禍のあともマスクを外せない少女」の物語に共感の声！生きやすい方を選択したことに対して責めてくる人がいる【作者インタビュー】. Walkerplus+
