Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2011
Via Twitter.com/MetropolisTokyo
@osakaadam—In the UK, price hikes never worked. Banning [smoking] in all bars and restaurants did well though. Hope that’s tried here in the future!
@VanAlenburg—Coughing guy (smelled badly of smoke) worried about cancer from radioactive food. Weird for a heavy smoker.
@helepon—Really missing outside smoking areas since coming to Tokyo. Less chance to have a break & chat away from the club.
@a_d_fensom—Quit please!
@jkendytokyo—Overall the city has handled it well, having private businesses make their own decisions rather than legislating needlessly. But the whole “don’t smoke outdoors” thing is quite odd, an embarrassment of twisted logic.
@sharp_writing—“Smoking is not normal behavior for orangutans” [Re: Time article about orangutan forced to quit smoking]
@Shogannai—I feel better about myself already.
@kezzachan—Lots to say! Being pregnant in Tokyo means I can’t go out to eat in many places, I have to hold my breath walking down the street… Japan needs to join the rest of the world and wake up to non-smoking laws. Feel like I live in 1985 sometimes…
@TheWatanabes—It would be nice to play a gig that didn’t feel as if it was impacting our health. For non-smokers, the Tokyo nightlife is like a night out in a gas chamber… And the daytime ain’t much better! Performers possibly feel the effects more than anyone. Non-smoking Karaoke lovers will sympathize I’m sure! 😉
Via Facebook.com/MetropolisMagazine
Smoking is too widely accepted in Tokyo. If the rules were more strict and people felt more negativity towards it, I would definitely be able to quit.—Sarah Brave
@Sarah Brave—you’re kidding, right?—Metropolis Magazine
No, I’m not. I’ve been trying to quit for months now, but it’s too damn cheap, and too much a social thing, to be a smoker. I honestly feel there are more smokers than non-smokers nowadays.—Sarah Brave
I hate the smoking rooms. I wish there were more outdoor smoking areas—like balconies and rooftops. That way you don’t always come home from a night out smelling like an ashtray, with burning, red eyes.—Kelly Williamson
If you as a parent force your children to sit with you in the smoking section of a restaurant in Tokyo, and they have no say in the matter, couldn’t that be considered a form of child abuse/neglect?—Mark Flanigan
I have to go with Mark on this one. I have seen babies in a cloud of smoke because their parent(s) were holding their fags below the table so smoke did not drift over their food. VERY hard to hold your tongue…—Janelle Truman
My experience is that people are very considerate in Japan and even more so than my hometown Melbourne, Australia (people regularly defy the new anti-smoking laws in public places to the detriment of others).—Laura Stevens
Love to see true smoke-free sections, definitely. I simply don’t eat in restaurants where smoke will waft into my space…—Jamie Paquin
Since 3/11 smokers seem to revel in blowing smoke and flinging their still-smoldering butts from sidewalks, bicycles, car windows and balconies. The consensus seems to be: “if the government can’t protect us from nuclear fallout, why should we care about cigarette smoke?”. Cancer is cancer, whether self-inflicted or otherwise. Ditto for the trouser burns!—John Munroe
And finally, an old fashioned email
It’s got to the point now where I choose to be unsociable at the weekend rather than ruin the next day with a sore throat and a lung-full of nicotine. During the nuclear crisis I constantly asked myself: why are people so worried about radiation when they are so content to eat, drink and live in toxic smoke? In my opinion the health impacts of passive smoking are far more serious.—Duncan Walsh
