I Developed a Chronic Infection in Japan

My first winter in Japan was brutal, to say the least. I had lived in cold places before, from Washington, DC to upstate New York. I had seen snow and experienced many snowstorms before. But that did nothing to prepare me for winter in Japan. 

I was living in a LeoPalace at the time. You know, one of those old foreigner-friendly apartments that people love to complain about online. I had moved in during the summer, and I immediately loved it. While it was a bit old, it was all mine. My only gripe was that the air conditioner / heating unit was on the first floor, and the bedroom was on the second.

This didn't bother me much the first few months I lived there. I grew up in Hawaii, so I was used to hot and humid. (I didn't have an air conditioner where I lived until I moved away for college and had one in my dorm room.) I noticed that this humidity was different than what I was used to, though. Despite airing it out daily, my futon quickly developed mold. My glasses were ruined within the first few months in Japan, too. The coating had been destroyed by fungus.

I attributed those things to the new climate and got on with my life. I bleached my futon every weekend. I bought new glasses. I bought silica gel packets to absorb whatever excess moisture in the air that I could. The weather was starting to cool by this point, and I was hoping it would bring the humidity down. Fall was nice, but did little to change the situation.

And then winter hit. The thing about most apartments in Japan (and especially the ones foreigners are allowed to rent) is that they're not well insulated. So, the temperature may not be that cold, but it sure feels cold because no heat is trapped inside.

I bought an electric heater, the kind that sit on the ground and you plug into the wall, and kept it on almost every day. I was so cold I rarely left my bed, huddled under the covers in front of my heater. Going downstairs was a nightmare. I'd have to bundle up because the little wall heater downstairs couldn't heat the entire room. 

It was about midway through the winter when my nose started to run. I attributed it to the cold, as that always happened to me when I'd go outside during winter. It was unfortunate that this was happening to me indoors, but I felt it was a testament to how cold it actually was.

I eventually made it through that winter, though it was tough. (Seriously. Some days, I'd wake up and find ice on my curtains that had formed from the condensation formed from my heater freezing due to the cold window.) Along the way, I also developed chilblains (a mild form of frostbite) on my toes and have permanent scars from that, but that's an entirely different story. The weather was warming up but my nose hadn't stopped running.

In fact, my mucus was thick and colored. I'd have to blow my nose three or four times, using up multiple tissues, before I could breathe through my nose again. Having to excuse myself to blow my nose had just become such a part of my daily life that I hardly paid any mind to it. It wasn't until my mother came to visit me and commented on it that I realized how bad it had really gotten. I had put off going to the doctor because I didn't know how to find one that spoke English, and I didn't feel like a runny nose warranted visiting a doctor.

Due to complicated reasons, I was moving to the Kanto area around the same time. I didn't have time to visit a doctor, as I was too busy packing up and arranging my move. But, I decided I would go to the doctor, English speaking or not, if this continued in Kanto.

On the airplane ride from Kansai to Kanto, my ears couldn't pop when the plane was ascending. Eventually, when we reached a level altitude, I was able to find some relief. I think it was at that moment that I decided I needed to see a doctor. The descent was even worse. My ears couldn't pop and I could feel the pressure building in my head. The pain was so intense that I only saw white for a few seconds. When we finally touched down, one of my ears had popped and relieved some of the pressure. However, I realized that I had lost hearing in the ear that hadn't popped.

I was able to find an English-speaking doctor in Yokohama quickly. I visited and found out that I developed a chronic sinus infection, probably due to living in all the mold in my apartment. I was prescribed mucus thinners and a steroid nasal spray and told to return if the symptoms got any worse.

Thankfully, everything more or less got regulated again within a few weeks. I forgot how nice it was to breathe normally. Unfortunately, I did permanently lose a bit of hearing in the affected ear. I also now have a permanent wet feeling in my ears, and I can't fly without pain unless I take pseudoephedrine (which is unfortunately banned in Japan) and special ear plugs. And, every time I get sick, the congestion returns long after the rest of my sickness symptoms leave, and I'm forced to return to the doctor for more medication to be rid of it for a bit.

I really think that my first apartment had some kind of malicious mold. My next apartment didn't give me as many problems. (My glasses and futon were fine after that.) However, I developed a chronic sinus infection because of my hesitation at visiting a doctor in Japan. I urge you to visit a doctor at any sign of an issue before it develops into something bigger. It's been almost three years now, but I still suffer because of my mistake.