Cherry Blossoms and Cedar Pollen: A Spring Allergy Survival Guide for Return Visitors to Japan

Sugi cedar releasing pollen clouds — the real culprit behind Japan's spring allergy season

If you have been to Japan in spring before, you already know the pull of it.

The first blush of blossoms along the Philosopher’s Path. Petals spinning down onto temple gravel. The peculiar stillness of an early morning beneath a canopy of pink that will be gone in a week. It is, as we have discovered across more spring visits than we can easily count, the season that keeps pulling us back.

But there is also something else in the air—and we mean that quite literally.

Cedar Pollen: Japan's Real Spring Allergy Culprit

The golden haze is not morning mist — it is sugi pollen, and during peak season it is everywhere.

Many travelers assume that the cherry blossoms themselves are the cause of their symptoms. In fact, the real offender is usually not the sakura at all. Japan's spring allergy season is driven primarily by sugi (Japanese cedar) pollen, followed closely by hinoki (Japanese cypress). These trees release enormous amounts of pollen from late winter into early spring, often peaking right as the cherry blossoms begin to bloom.

The backstory is worth knowing. Much of this goes back to Japan's postwar reforestation program, when vast areas of hillside were deliberately planted with sugi for timber. When the domestic timber market collapsed in subsequent decades, those trees were largely left standing rather than harvested — and they have been releasing enormous clouds of pollen every spring ever since. It is one of Japan's more inadvertent legacies of the postwar economic boom, and it affects tens of millions of Japanese every year.

These sugi were planted to rebuild Japan's postwar economy. They ended up rebuilding Japan's pharmacy industry instead.

So if you find yourself sneezing under the cherry trees, it is almost certainly the cedar or cypress, not the sakura.

This spring, travelers should be especially prepared. Forecasts for 2026 suggest that cedar pollen levels are running higher than usual in many parts of Japan, particularly across major travel corridors during cherry blossom season. The very week you are heading off to photograph the blossoms may coincide with the peak of cedar pollen — and just as cedar begins to ease, cypress pollen often takes over through early April.

What Symptoms Travelers Often Experience

Even travelers who manage hay fever reasonably well at home can be caught off guard. The sheer volume of sugi pollen in circulation during peak season—particularly in regions with dense cedar coverage—can be genuinely overwhelming.

Common symptoms include:

• sneezing fits

• itchy or watery eyes

• post-nasal drip

• congestion

• sinus headaches

• throat irritation

• unusual fatigue

  
  

Some travelers tell themselves they are simply jet-lagged, only to realize later that pollen is the real culprit.

What To Pack Before You Leave

Because we both suffer from seasonal allergies ourselves, we now make it a point to prepare before every spring trip to Japan.

We always travel with loratadine, which works well for us as a daily antihistamine, and we strongly recommend packing the allergy medications that already work well for you at home. By using a known effective medication, you don’t have to be concerned with how you will react to a new one.

Do not wait until symptoms start.

Pack them in your carry-on, particularly if you are arriving directly into Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, or Fukuoka during blossom season.

Suggested essentials:

• your preferred daily antihistamine (we travel with loratadine)

• nasal spray

• lubricating or antihistamine eye drops

• saline spray

• tissues

• sunglasses for outdoor walking

• well-fitted masks

  
  

Do not underestimate masks. They remain completely unremarkable to wear in Japan, and on a gusty day in Kyoto or along a cedar-lined temple approach, a well-fitted mask is genuinely one of the most effective tools in your kit. We reach for ours without a second thought.

Japan's mask culture predates the pandemic by decades — and the options available at any pharmacy reflect it.

One very important note for travelers: if you normally take a “-D” allergy medication such as Allegra-D, Zyrtec-D, Claritin-D, or Sudafed, check the label carefully before packing. These products often contain pseudoephedrine, which is regulated in Japan as a stimulant raw material.

They are not prohibited, but they require advance approval before being brought into Japan.

By contrast, the plain non-“D” versions are generally much easier to travel with and are often the better choice for short-term visitors.

For a full discussion of medication rules and advance approvals, please also see our detailed guide: Essential Guidelines for Traveling With Medications to Japan.

Buying Allergy Medicine in Japan: Better Than You'd Expect

If you forget to pack medication, or if your usual routine proves not quite enough once you arrive, you are in exactly the right country to resupply. Japan is exceptionally well equipped for spring allergies—unsurprisingly, given that the Japanese population has been grappling with kafunshō (allergies) for decades.

Because seasonal allergies are so common in Japan, there is no shortage of effective over-the-counter remedies, including antihistamines, nasal sprays, soothing eye drops, masks, and saline products. For nasal spray, we reach for Nazal — easy to find at any Matsumoto Kiyoshi or Welcia and effective within minutes.

Nazal by Sato — our go-to nasal spray, available at virtually every Japanese pharmacy chain.

Just as important, the pharmacists and drugstore staff are generally well trained and highly knowledgeable. Even if you are a tourist, they can often guide you to the products most likely to help with your particular symptoms—whether that is itchy, red eyes, persistent congestion, sinus pressure, or post-nasal drip.

In our experience, Japanese pharmacists are among the most capable and patient in the world when it comes to guiding foreign visitors through the allergy aisle. Point to your eyes. Mime sneezing. They will understand immediately, and they will find you what you need.

Chains such as Sugi Drug, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, and Welcia are easy to find in major cities and carry a wide range of allergy medications.

Look for words such as:

• 花粉症 (kafunshō = pollen allergy / hay fever)

• アレルギー (arerugī = allergy)

• 点眼薬 (tenganyaku = eye drops)

• 点鼻薬 (tenbiyaku = nasal spray)

Your phone’s camera translation feature can be invaluable here.

Rohto Lycee — remarkably effective at soothing irritated, red eyes after long days in the pollen.

Over the years, we have also come to rely on Japanese over-the-counter eye drops during spring travel. Our personal favorite is Rohto Lycee, shown here. For us, they are remarkably effective at soothing irritated eyes and quickly reducing the red, tired look that often comes with pollen season and long travel days.

A Japan-Only Discovery That Has Earned a Permanent Place in Our Kit: Ihada Aller Screen EX

Ihada Aller Screen EX — a fine facial mist that creates an invisible barrier against cedar pollen. Available in Japan only.

One Japan discovery that has become a permanent part of our spring travel kit is Ihada Aller Screen EX. Rather than a medication, it is a fine facial mist that helps keep pollen from settling on the skin and hair.

Before heading out for the day, we lightly mist it over our face and hair. It creates an invisible barrier that helps keep cedar pollen from clinging to the skin, eyelashes, and hairline—places from which it is all too easily transferred into the eyes and nose.

We have found it especially helpful during long days outdoors when pollen seems to drift onto every surface. It is not available outside Japan, which makes it one of those quietly indispensable things to stock up on before you fly home.

A Small Inconvenience, Not a Reason to Skip Spring

None of this should change your plans.

The Fushimi canals in Kyoto, where traditional sake boats drift beneath cherry blossoms in spring. This is what the preparation is for.

Cherry blossom season has a brevity that sharpens attention in a way few other travel experiences can match. You know, even as you are standing beneath the trees, that the petals will be gone within days. That knowledge is part of what makes it so arresting. The hush of early morning temple grounds, the sudden release of petals on the wind, the pleasure of a good hanami spread laid out on a tarp while the light goes golden—these are not things you plan to remember. They simply stay.

Managing pollen is simply part of the preparation for spring in Japan — the quiet groundwork that clears the way for everything worth remembering. Handle it in advance and it disappears, as it should.

And that is always the goal—to come home with the blossoms in your memory, not a week of sneezing.