Originally Posted by
LapLap
How are you with going into a store like Muji? (They showcase their home fragrances at most if not all their stores)
I avoid fragrance sections of stores.
And non chain Chinese and Thai restaurants? (Many of these will keep personal shrines)
Never had a problem.
It’s easy enough to avoid incense at the big temples - even if you buy a packet of single use stick on face masks, avoiding temples with smoke is very straightforward, so you shouldn’t need many.
Alone, staying away isn't a problem. My wife would like to go, though.
But if your sensitivity to irritants is peculiarly high, it’s worth being aware that incense is extremely prevalent in ordinary people’s lives. A great many Japanese people (and I even include myself when I’m there) start every day burning incense. So it will be on many of our clothes and hair.
Small restaurants and businesses may well have their nook where incense is burned.
I stress that this isn’t a scent most of us notice or are aware of, but if your intolerance is extreme, you may experience sensitivity to this hidden and very subtle side of Japan.
At that level it's not an issue.