College graduates and higher income adults in Japan unmasked faster after the government relaxed its mask guidance

We aim to shed light on the society’s normalization process after a pandemic by documenting the process of unmasking in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis in Japan. For that purpose, we conducted a weekly or biweekly survey of masking wearing behaviors from Summer 2022 to Spring 2024. Japanese citizens had worn masks at a high rate until mid-March 2023—three years after the onset of the pandemic—when the Prime Minister announced that mask-wearing would become up to individuals.

After the announcement, Japanese citizens gradually unmasked themselves. However, the process of unmasking was uneven; some segments of the population such as college graduates and higher-income adults unmasked themselves faster than others. Kei Shimazawa worked on this project prior to his employment at A*STAR.

Taisuke Nakata was supported by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), Project Number 22H04927. Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo, 186-8601, Japan Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis #08-01, Singapore, 138634, Singapore Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113-8654, Japan The authors declare no competing interests. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Takaku, R., Shimazawa, K. & Nakata, T. College graduates and higher income adults in Japan unmasked faster after the government relaxed its mask guidance. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-77615-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-77615-1