Patrons of Tokyo restaurants and bars were yesterday able to light up indoors for the last time as one of the world’s most cigarette-friendly cities starts enforcing anti-smoking laws from today.
Japan lags behind many countries in its efforts to reduce tobacco usage, and the ban — just in Tokyo — only applies to traditional cigarettes, not so-called “heat not burn” devices for which Japan is the world’s biggest market. E-cigarettes that use liquid nicotine are banned.
The ban was part of Tokyo’s preparations for the now-delayed 2020 Olympics and covers establishments with hired employees, meaning many of the family-owned and operated bars and restaurants that the city is famous for are exempt.
It took two years for the ban to come into effect — parliament approved the law in 2018 along with other national anti-smoking legislation — highlighting the hurdles anti-smoking activists face in a nation where the biggest tobacco maker, Japan Tobacco, is one-third owned by the government and its products provide substantial tax revenue.
“This year’s law is still not sufficient,” politician and anti-smoking campaigner Shigefumi Matsuzawa said. “We had to set many compromises in order for it to pass, so there are several loopholes.”
Less than a fifth of Japanese still smoke, down from about half the population half a century ago, but cigarettes are widely available and affordable: a pack of 20 costs about ￥500 (US$4.60), a third of the price in fellow G7 member Britain.
Activists say second-hand smoke kills about 15,000 people a year in Japan, many of them women and children.
Japan Tobacco senior vice president Kenji Ogura expected the ban to have an impact on sales at a “certain level,” but did not give any details. Japan Tobacco has been struggling to make its heated tobacco devices more popular than those by rival Philip Morris International Inc, and last year cut its profit outlook for this fiscal year.
Smokers like 30-year-old Daiki Watanabe said the law would do little to change habits.
“Human will is a weak thing,” he said. “I don’t want to stop. If I am able to smoke, I will.”
However, several restaurants, worried about losing customers, have built designated smoking areas.
“For customers who don’t smoke, we have listened to their voices,” said Akihiro Funyuu, manager of a Tokyo bar. “But here, we’ve created a smoking room to listen to the smokers’ voices too.”
The law takes effect as Japan is battling a coronavirus outbreak that has so far infected more than 2,000 people and killed 59.
The WHO has said tobacco users are likely to be more vulnerable to being infected by the virus, but for smokers like Ryo Okumura, that is not enough of an incentive to quit.
“If I get the virus, I get the virus,” he said. “I can’t just stop. It’s an indulgence.”
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
RSS