Japan is known for its healthy diet and impressive life expectancy. But it is also a smoker’s paradise. Although the number of smokers has dropped by a third over the past 20 years, more than 17 million Japanese smoke regularly. The authorities are trying to make more public spaces smoke-free, but it is an uphill struggle as old habits die hard. Gabriel Chanéac, Alexis Bregere and Justin McCurry report.
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France banned smoking in bars and restaurants in 2008. But in Japan, smokers can still puff away in smaller establishments.
“Ninety percent of our customers are smokers,” says Yasuhiro Ogawa, who runs a bar in Tokyo. “Many prefer to drink and have fun rather than having to go outside to smoke.”
Japan’s government is trying to reduce the number of bars and restaurants that permit smoking to protect other customers and staff from the effects of second-hand smoke.
Smoking is already banned on many of the capital’s streets, forcing people to get their nicotine fix in designated smoking areas. It’s a different approach from that taken in other countries.
Conflict of interest
The proportion of adult smokers has dipped from around 25 percent to 16 percent over the past two decades. But tobacco products still threaten public health, causing more than 130,000 deaths a year.
Even so, the war on smoking has yet to get serious.
Pricing and packaging are part of the problem, says anti-smoking campaigner Manabu Sakuta, noting that the average packet of cigarettes “costs under 3 euros and features no shocking photos”.
Critics say the government is soft on smoking because it has a 30 percent stake in Japan Tobacco, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of cigarettes – a conflict of interests that means many Japanese will keep lighting up.
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