Smoking or Non-Smoking?
For those of you who have never been to Japan, Japan is a beautiful place that’s rich with culture. The food is good and the people are respectful and nice. However, having grown up in the Bay Area, I’ve been having a difficult time adjusting to all the cigarette smoking that people do in public. Most restaurants have smoking and non-smoking sections but all the smoke inevitably wifts into the non-smoking sections. In restaurants that do not separate smokers from non-smokers, people are left to deal with second-hand smoking. It’s definitely much worse than eating in a vegas casino because restaurants are smaller and there are no places for the smoke to escape.
Apparently more than 30 million people smoke in Japan, making it one of the world’s largest tabacco markets (I usually get my sources from wikipedia unless I’m doing a research paper). It’s interesting for me to compare the daily lives of the Japanese to those where I grew up in the Bay. There are no “Truth” commercials and billboard ads that tell people to stop smoking like we see in the US. On the other hand, I’ve been seeing a lot of ads to help make Japan more eco-friendly, like recycling and using fuel efficient machines and vehicles…this is a good thing. However, I find all of this interesting because people here are making a lot of effort to protect the environment but not themselves.
I wonder if people will continue to smoke as much as they do or if it’ll ever slow down. Definitely hoping that it’ll slow down. Japan will become much more “beautiful” if it does, and it’ll help the health of many people!
Definitely NON-smoking!!!
Smokers sometimes plead their right to smoke but I want to plead a non-smokers’ right to protect our health and not to inhale smoke.
I want smokers to realize that they are spending lots of money to damage their health.
Thank you for finding good aspect of Japan! It is very interesting that you, Japanese is writing about Japan from a foreigner’s point of view!
Supplement; I meant “Thank you for finding good aspect of Japan still” because you describe Japan “beautiful”, “rich in culture” etc. Excuse me of writing in again.
definitely!
all the smoking was quite shocking to me. there are ashtrays everywhere and some people even carry portable ones.
whenever i go to certain places, my clothes smell like smoke. definitely not good for your health!
Sho…just finished chatting a bit with you on FB. Great blog about smoking…in fact…it hits close to home as I’ve entered the military and once again grab an occasional cigarette. The Japanese people work rigorously, as I understand, and I’ve determined that smoking in some circles is simply a reason to break. Perhaps, that has something to with a high smoking population in the military too. GO, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO…..smoke……..GO, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO…….smoke. I can’t wait to visit Japan one day and I’d hope to breath smoke free air say all the way to the top of Mt. Fuji. Great to chat with you. Site looks great. Stay in touch.
jamie, thanks for the comment. great talking to you earlier! good luck in the military and definitely visit japan when you get a chance!
Nice site, I admire your speech about smoking.
Most people like to smoke, I don’t get why the hell do they like smoking??
thanks for the comment! agreed! nothing good about smoking.