China's Thick Smog Now Clouds Japan

Buildings covered with white haze, people donned with gas masks and face masks, and stranded passengers is what the present day China looks like. The last few weeks have been very unpleasant for the country, as a large part of it was covered with hazardous thick smog. The residents are choking on the toxic smog. It has been a week and the skies have still not cleared.

As China begins to see some hope of the smog reducing, problems for Japan increase, with the toxic smog slowly finding its way to the island nation.

According to AFP, Japan's environment ministry reported that the toxic smog that had engulfed China is now making way to their country, thereby increasing health concerns among citizens. It has already targeted some coastal areas on Monday, creating fear among the citizens. The environment ministry's website is flooded with users who are seeking information from the ministry in order to prepare themselves for the menace that is soon approaching them.

"Access to our air-pollution monitoring system has been almost impossible since last week, and the telephone here has been constantly dining because worried people keep asking us about the impact on health," an environment ministry official said in the report. 

News and weather programs have clearly shown a swirl of pollution accumulated across China and making it's way over the oceans toward Japan.

The two nations are already in a dispute regarding the sovereignty of a chain of islands in the East China Sea. This new issue will not help in improving the relation between the two. Though the Japan officials are being modest by not blaming their neighbor for this unpleasant occurrence, it cannot be ignored that the smog is a result of pollution from China.

Atsushi Shimizu of the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) was quoted in AFP stating, air pollution over the west of Japan has surpassed government limits over the last few days, with tiny particulate matter a problem. Prevailing winds from the west bring airborne particles from the Asian mainland.

Prior to this, a similar event occurred in 2011, when a cloud of thick hazardous smog hovered over Japan for several days.

The citizens of Japan have been warned to be alert and protect themselves from falling trap to the health hazards the smog causes.