A Twitch streamer found a group of young Japanese men wearing panties on their faces to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
Well, this is new. We've always known that Japan has a sometimes unhealthy obsession with women's undergarments, but this is taking things to a new extreme. A Twitch streamer abroad in Japan has found out that Japanese men are now wearing panties as improvised surgical masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Cjay is from Detroit but is currently in Osaka. He often broadcasts his travels in and around Osaka on Twitch so that Westerners can get an authentic feel for what it's like in Japan, and what it's like is more than a little weird.
His latest stream had him speaking to a smoking Russian dance performer before a pair of young men walk up to him wearing panties over their faces. They explain that the panties are not from their girlfriends (thank god), but are actually just panties they purchased in order to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
"That's smart," Cjay says in response. "That's smart."
According to The Guardian, wearing a face mask can provide some level of protection against coronavirus transmission, although some studies have found them to be less effective than merely washing your hands more often. The World Health Organization says that wearing a face mask can be beneficial if you are sick or are living or working close to someone who is sick, but there's little evidence to suggest that wearing a face mask in public provides any protection at all.
There's even less evidence to suggest wearing panties provides any level of protection, but that hasn't stopped people from buying panty face masks.
Believe it or not, the Philippine Department of Health even recommends using "panties, bras, and diapers" as improvised face masks. This was during the volcanic eruption of Mount Taal last January, however, so this is more to prevent the inhalation of ash than viruses.
Source: Twitch, WHO, The Guardian