After experiencing the rough texture of a Chinese-made disposable mask and the discomfort of an oversized linen mask, I used the government-distributed cloth mask for the first time.
Its soft texture and suitable size convinced me of its quality and exposed the malice of the anti-Abe politicians, commentators, and media figures who had relentlessly mocked and disparaged it.

June 26, 2020
The malice of those who disparaged this mask knows no bounds.
I realized that they are indeed people made of unfathomable evil and plausible falsehoods.
Those who earn their living through their opposition to Abe are truly malicious.
Some time ago, a friend told me that masks were being sold from a small truck parked in front of a nearby home improvement store, at 50 masks per box.
When I went shopping that evening, I naturally assumed they would already have sold out, but they were still on sale, so I hurried to buy a box.
Later, suspecting that something might be wrong, I checked and discovered that they had been made in China.
I clicked my tongue in disgust, but it was already too late.
I had no choice but to use them.
I travel only very short distances around my home, so the amount of time I spend wearing a mask is extremely brief.
Even so, I was bothered by its rough, scratchy feeling against my skin.
On a television news program the other night, a female dermatologist appeared in a report about the increasing number of people suffering from skin irritation caused by masks.
Those masks with that particular texture had been produced in Chinese factories where no one knew what kind of quality control was being exercised.
I learned from another television program that the material used to make those masks was recycled fiber derived from plastic bottles.
That explained the rough and scratchy feeling.
Not long after I bought that box, the cloth mask distributed by the Abe administration, which could be washed and used repeatedly, arrived.
I put it aside, thinking that I would save it for an occasion when I really needed to go out.
I was unable to buy masks made by Sharp.
I was also unable to buy masks from Uniqlo.
The only one I was able to purchase was a linen mask offered through a crowdfunding project for 2,900 yen.
It arrived at the end of May.
It was not bad, but it was far too large.
After being unable to go out on the preceding clear days, I visited Arashiyama for the first time in several months on the final day, when the area was being affected by PM2.5.
The temperature was 33 degrees Celsius.
Not only did I experience symptoms resembling heatstroke for the first time, but I also ate lunch at a soba restaurant I had visited many times before.
I did so because there were almost no other customers.
The chicken tempura set meal, which was usually of high quality, had strangely hard batter.
I developed stomach pain.
Without realizing the problem, I had also continued wearing the oversized mask.
To cure my stomach pain, I ate cabbage every day.
Today, I used the Abe mask for the first time.
Its texture against the skin was excellent.
Because it was made of cloth, it had none of the rough, scratchy feeling.
Of all the masks I had used, it had the finest texture.
It was the exact opposite of the oversized mask that had left me frighteningly close to heatstroke, and its size was just right.
The malice of those who disparaged this mask knows no bounds.
I realized that they are indeed people made of unfathomable evil and plausible falsehoods.