Project You!

In the last week, I was hit by first a fever and then a bad case of runny nose.

I thought that I had caught a cold, but it turns out that it is hay fever.

In Japanese "hay fever" is 花粉症 which translates loosely to "pollen sickness".
In English, however, we say "hay fever" to cover a myriad of allergies to different airborne substances.

* Do you have any allergies?
Yes, I do.

* What are you allergic to?
I am allergic to Japanese cedar and house dust.

Here are a few common Japanese allergies:

Japanese cedar - 杉
House dust - ハウスダスト
pollen - 花粉
ragweed, hogweed - 豚草
Japanese cypress - 檜「ひのき」

There also common food allergies such as:

Japanese soba - 蕎麦「そば」
blue scaled fish - 青魚　
- sardines - 鰯「いわし」
- mackerel - 鯖「さば」