Smoking in Japan

[Daravon]

I just watched Honey and Clover, which seems to be set in Japan, and noticed the charcters smoke inside an awful lot.

Around here at least, smoking in public is totally legal but it's still bad manners to smoke inside pretty much anywhere but bars. Certainly all professional environments and office buildings are no smoking.

Is smoking more accepted in Japan? Mayama's boss lit up in the office regularly.

[Mana]

There are a lot less restrictions on smoking in Japan (despite the fact that the age for legal smoking/buying cigarettes there is 20). Even in places that are marked as "Non-Smoking" will have people smoking there, especially the Yakuza.

I don't think it's necesarily that it's more accepted, just that it's a lot more expected.

[Daravon]

Yakuza

Please define?

[Tyrdium]

Please define?
Yakuza (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza). Basically, Japanese mafia.

[ant]

When it comes to smoking indoors most people will have an air filter in the room so it is not totally as bad as you think. Also Japanese people for the most part won't ask you to go outside to smoke because they are very polite. Most resturants will let you smoke inthe smoking sections. Government buildings, train stations, and airports have smoking areas and there are astrays here and there so you don't have to throw your butt in the gutter. There are some streets in Tokyo where you can't smoke, and suck ass Starbucks. There are some funny advertisments to pursade people not to smoke in public. For the most part nobody really minds as long as you are not blowing it into someone's face.

[General Suburbia]

Of course in Japan, no one in real life smokes. The Japanese are much too polite for such rude behavior. What better measure of politeness is there when one will always take off their shoes inside a house? When Japanese girls get ****ed, you can be sure to find a "please" and "thank you" in between bouts of moaning and "your dick is filling my *******." Thus it is presposterous to even think that the Japanese would smoke indoors, let alone smoke at all. What were you thinking?

[/sarcasm]ha! I remembered!

[madpierrot]

Here are some of the funny advertisements to get people to quick smoking that I saw.
"the fire disappears beneath his shoe, but the butt still remains"
"a free portable ashtray is as easy to carry as a mobile phone. so why don't i carry one?"
"a lit cigerette is carried at the height of a child's face"
and my personal favorite
"the cool cowboy flicks his cigerette butt into the street. But he lives in an old movie"
All of these come with neat little pictures too, mainly stick figure people, but they can be funny.

I know that smoking in Japan is really common though. It's like 50% for males in Japan and women is less, but it's still quite a high number. I know they are more loose about smoking there, like they still have cigerette vending machines, but I've heard they are starting to become a bit more strict about it, but still no where near as much as we are.

[f1rst children]

Smoking is actually really common everywhere. It just seems to be the US that has a big hangup about tobacco, like many other things.

[philnicau]

Smoking is very common in Japan, certainly a lot more then Australia.
But on my last trip (feb 06) i did notice that there is a move away from heavy smoking, it certainly wasn't as prevelant as it had been on previous trips, also its now banned on some of the Shinkansen (bullet trains) and is being progressively phased out on all of them, to hazard a guess i'd say there about where most western countries were in the 1980s.

[Chocobo Breeder]

Smoking causes cancer and heart disease. Don't smoke, I'm allergic

[Geney]

I'm allergic too and bad for lung

[Roark]

I'm allergic too and bad for lung
This isn't about smoking/not smoking. It's aobut Japan and acceptance of tobacco.

[ant]

Here is one of many advertisements to get people to stop smoking

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1940/smokesign0ka.jpg

[ant]

Another sign

http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/3929/smokesign24xp.jpg

[[-=[montney]=-]]

If only Americans were that motivated all we have is signs, videos, commercials, people that come to schools and talk about it, subliminal messaging, stickers, banners, marches, cancer conspiracies and every so often the crazy parent of some kid.

[ant]

=-]']If only Americans were that motivated all we have is signs, videos, commercials, people that come to schools and talk about it, subliminal messaging, stickers, banners, marches, cancer conspiracies and every so often the crazy parent of some kid.
American anti smoking ads, PSAs, and community serivces such as DARE are more direct when it comes to informing people about smoking. These ads here are more subtle and are directed to people's self conciousness about smoking, and the people around them.

[Jeannie]

I wonder how the advertisements used in Japan would work here... It'd be interesting to see.

I do notice in the more "mature" anime smoking is common amoung the older men characters. Maybe if smoking wasn't so forbidden in other places people wouldn't be as tempted to try it.

[NausicaaBoy]

smoking is everywhere in japan..its really weird actually when your there to get used to it