Smoking in Japan

Smoking in Japan is practiced by around 20,000,000 people, and the nation is one of the world's largest tobacco markets,^[1] though tobacco use has been declining in recent years.^[2]

Tobacco on display in a store in Tokyo

As of 2019, the Japanese adult smoking rate was 16.7%. By gender, 27.1% of men and 7.6% of women consumed a tobacco product at least once a month.^[3] This is the lowest recorded figure since the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare or Japan Tobacco began surveying in 1965.

Per capita consumption in 2016 was 1,583 cigarettes, roughly 45% of the peak consumption of 3,497 in 1977.^[4][5]

History

 

Smokers as a percentage of the population for Japan as compared with the United States, the Netherlands, Norway, and Finland. 1980–2019.

Until 1985, the tobacco industry was a government-run monopoly; the government of Japan is still involved in the industry through the Ministry of Finance, which after a sell-off in March 2013, owns one-third of Japan Tobacco's outstanding stock, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, which is active in public health and other tobacco control policymaking.^[6]

The Ministry of Finance as well as many MPs of the Diet of Japan have interests in the tobacco industry and thus tobacco control legislation is lenient, according to the anti-smoking lobby.^{[7][dead link]}

Smoking age

The smoking age in Japan has been 20 since 1876.^[8]

Pricing

The price of a particular brand of cigarettes in Japan is set by manufacturers and approved by the Ministry of Finance. A particular brand of cigarettes costs the same across all vendors. As of August 2020, the price of a typical pack of cigarettes ranges from ¥400 to ¥530. A proposed tobacco tax hike in October 2020 will increase the price range to ¥450 to ¥570 for typical brands.^[9]

Smoking bans

 

A no smoking patrol in Adachi, Tokyo in 2014

Unlike many other countries, Japan traditionally had outdoor smoking regulations with more lenient indoor smoking regulations. Outdoor smoking is frowned upon on public streets and local governments typically have bylaws banning smoking on busy public streets.

Except for fire codes, indoor smoking for private businesses was unregulated until 2019. The general consensus was that local governments had jurisdiction over smoking in public outdoor spaces, but not within private properties including commercial spaces where businesses are conducted.

In June 2018, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly approved indoor smoking regulations targeting commercial spaces in Tokyo and to reduce passive smoking prior to hosting the 2019 Rugby World Cup, 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games.^[10]

In July 2018, the National Diet passed an amendment that bans smoking in public facilities for the first time in the nation's history.^[11] The ban was rolled out in stages and fully enforced since April 2020.^[11] It makes smoking illegal in public institutions (schools, hospitals, municipal offices etc.) except in special smoking spaces.^[11] Restaurants and bars have a ban on indoor smoking except well-ventilated rooms, where drinking or eating is not allowed.^[11] However, small pubs like izakaya are exempted.^[11] Establishments with a ¥50 million capitalization or lower and up to 100 m² floor space can allow smoking if they put up a warning sign.^[11]

Indoor smoking ban

Mandatory indoor smoking bans apply to schools, childcare, hospitals, clinics and government administrative buildings throughout Japan.^[12] More lenient smoking restrictions apply to other buildings such as workplaces, food establishments and judicial buildings, where indoor smoking is not allowed but a designated smoking room may be constructed, provided access by minors is restricted and no food or drink is served inside.^[12] The indoor smoking ban does not apply to smoking clubs or grandfathered food establishments smaller than 100m², provided no minors are allowed to enter the premises.^[12]

Local governments in Japan have the power to enact stricter smoking bylaws. Some prefectures such as Tokyo, Kanagawa and Hyogo have stricter indoor smoking bylaws, although designated indoor smoking areas are typically allowed.

Outdoor smoking ban

Many of the wealthier wards of Tokyo, such as Shinjuku and Shibuya, are applying various kinds of outdoor anti-smoking bylaws. They have designated special outdoor smoking sections in areas and it is punishable by fine if caught smoking outside these areas. Chiyoda-ku banned smoking while walking on busy streets from November 2002, the first local government in Japan to do so.^[13]

Starting in 2007, Kyoto began designating certain city streets as non-smoking areas, and have since then been increasing the number of streets designated as such.^[14][15] In a 2010 report, Kyoto Prefecture stated that the major goal of their anti-smoking policies is "to ensure that there is zero chance for people to suffer from second-hand smoke in Kyoto prefecture."^[16]

Japanese women and smoking

 

E-Goyomi (Lady Smoking)
Woodblock print believed to be by Korinsai, dating between 1785 and 1790. She is smoking with a long kiseru.

 

Ninth month of the series Minami jūni kō
Woodcut print by Torii Kiyonaga, around 1784. A long kiseru beside one of three prostitutes who is reading a paper in a brothel at Shinagawa, Tokyo.

The major female smokers were prostitutes (yūjo) by early 19th century.^[17]

While a high percentage of men in Japan have smoked throughout the postwar years, the rate for women for many years hovered between 10 and 15%, followed by a decline in recent years to currently just below 10%.^[18]

In the mid-1990s, the number of younger female smokers in particular had risen substantially. Smoking has since declined among this group as well, but that cohort of women still smokes at a higher rate than their elders.^[18] "The manufacturers were very successful in providing cool images to the consumers," says Ministry of Health and Welfare technical officer Yumiko Mochizuki, when asked to explain the steady rise in female smokers. "Until recently, the Ministry of Health and Welfare had an understanding that smoking was entirely up to the individual."^[19]

The government's advertising ban based on the "motherhood" argument was watertight until the tobacco industry was privatized in 1985. Advertising that encourages women to smoke is forbidden in Japan under a voluntary industry agreement. The industry group pledged to voluntarily honor the advertising ban and is charged with enforcing it. United States maker Brown & Williamson sells Capri cigarettes in Japan in slim white boxes with a flower-like design on the cover. R.J. Reynolds' Tokyo billboards for Salem's Pianissimo cigarettes are green-and-pink. Philip Morris advertised its Virginia Slims brand with the slogan "Be You" in an ad campaign.

Other factors contribute to the rise in female smokers. Some observers cite stress, saying that more Japanese women are smoking to relax as more enter the workforce. Media influence is also cited, as many women on popular Japanese television dramas smoke.

Cigarette vending machines

 

Cigarette vending machines in 2014

Cigarettes can be bought in tobacco stores and at vending machines, and public ashtrays dot sidewalks and train platforms. The number of cigarette vending machines in Japan was estimated at 500,000 in 2002.^[20]

The law prohibits the smoking of cigarettes by persons under the age of twenty.^[21]

Taspo is a smart card developed by the Tobacco Institute of Japan, the nationwide association of tobacco retailers, and the Japan Vending Machine Manufacturers Association. Introduced in 2008, the card is necessary to purchase cigarettes from vending machines.

In 2008 Japan Tobacco commissioned a series of over 70 public service announcement style "smoking manner" posters about smoking etiquette.^[22][23] The ads were displayed in a wide variety of formats ranging from placards in the subway to postcards to beverage coasters.

See also

• Onshino Tabako

References

1. cigarette use globally tobaccoatlas.org
2. Mark Levin, Tobacco Control Lessons from the Higgs Boson: Observing a Hidden Field Behind Changing Tobacco Norms in Japan. American Journal of Law and Medicine, 39 (2013): 471-489. SSRN
3. "令和元年国民健康・栄養調査結果の概要" (PDF). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
4. Mark Levin, Puffing Precedents: The Impact of the WHO FCTC on Tobacco Product Liability Litigation in Japan. Asian Journal of WTO & International Health Law and Policy, vol. 11, no. 1, 2016 at p. 23. SSRN
5. "Consumption". Tobacco Atlas. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
6. Levin, Tobacco Control Lessons (2013) at 474, 480-481.
7. Birtley, Tony (January 18, 2007). "Long road for anti-smoking Japanese". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
8. "民法改正 成年年齢の引下げ" (PDF). 法務省.
9. "たばこ税増税等に伴うたばこの小売定価改定の認可申請について" (PDF). JT. Japan Tobacco. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
10. Tomohiro Osaki (June 27, 2018). . Archived from the original on December 3, 2018.
11. . Japan Times. July 18, 2018. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021.
12. "健康増進法の一部を改正する法律（平成30年法律第78号）概要" (PDF). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
13. "Smoking ban on Tokyo's streets". BBC News. 2 October 2002. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
14. 7月1日施行 (in Japanese). Kyoto Shimbun. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
15. 路上喫煙禁止を拡大 (in Japanese). Kyoto Shimbun. 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
16. "京都府における受動喫煙防止対策の目標". 京都府における受動喫煙防止対策に関する報告書 (in Japanese). Kyoto Prefecture. Retrieved 2012-05-16. quote: 【大 目 標】 京都府内で人が受動喫煙を受ける機会をゼロにする
17. NAGASHIMA, Atsuko (2007-06-30). "『農業図絵』にみる喫煙とジェンダー" (PDF). Research Paper; 非文字資料研究 News Letter, 16: 23-23 (in Japanese). Kanagawa University Repository. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
18. http://www.health-net.or.jp/tobacco/product/pd090000.html and http://www.health-net.or.jp/tobacco/product/pd090000.html
19. . Csmonitor.com. Archived from the original on November 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
20. . 2005-2011 World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Western Pacific. 2002-05-28. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved 2012-05-16. With 500,000 cigarette vending machines, the young can easily buy cigarettes.
21. "Smoking in Japan". Japan-guide.com. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
22. Japan Tobacco's Delightfully Disturbing 'Smoking Manners for Adults' Ads Steve Levenstein
23. Japan Tobacco's Clever and Strange Smoking Manners Signs Common Craft, February 23, 2008

Further reading

• Reid, Roddey. Globalizing tobacco control: Anti-smoking campaigns in California, France, and Japan (Indiana University Press, 2005) online

External links

• 「マナーの気づき1」篇　グラフィック広告（イラスト一覧） Japan Tobacco (in Japanese)
• Ozasa, Shunichi (February 18, 2010). "Japan to Seek Total Smoking Ban in Public Places, Yomiuri Says". Bloomberg.