True grit: clouds of Chinese dust descend on southern Japan

For decades, residents of southern Japan have endured annual clouds of yellow sand and grit borne by winds from China.

Now a newer threat is being blown eastwards: the ultrafine PM2.5 particulate matter that has been linked to serious health complaints.

Large parts of southern and central Japan have been coated in Chinese dust in recent days, with concentrations of PM2.5 soaring in the city of Fukuoka.

The municipal government warned early in the day that concentrations of the air pollutant, less than 2.5 microns in diameter, were likely to exceed the national environmental standards of 35 microgrammes per cubic meter.

“The readings yesterday were above 40 micrograms and at one point reached 70 micrograms per cubic meter, which is well beyond the government’s standards,” said Daisuke Tsuchida, a researcher with the Fukuoka Institute of Health and Environmental Sciences.

“It was the worst we have experienced so far this year, but the good news is that the average today is lower again,” he told The South China Morning Post.