Got a smoking habit? Better watch where you light ’em up in Osaka City. As of January 27th, the city has become the latest in Japan to ban smoking in most public locations.
The new ordinance, according to Osaka City’s website, bans public smoking on Osaka’s roads, as well as in parks and public squares. Violations will incur a 1,000 yen (USD $6.46) fine.
The city had previously banned public smoking in six wards. The new ordinance widens this to all wards in Osaka. Smokers can only smoke in designated areas marked with a blue sign.
The move comes ahead of World Expo 2025 Kansai, when the city will host a number of domestic and inbound tourists. The move mirrors similar action taken by Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics, when the city moved to restrict indoor smoking in locations such as restaurants.
Besides improving public health, the move is designed to keep streets cleaner by reducing the number of cigarette butts on the ground.
According to Nikkei, not all smokers are happy with the move. Some complain that Osaka has too few designated smoking areas compared to Tokyo.
In conjunction with the move, Osaka City said it’s raising the number of smoking locations to 330, adding an additional 170 spots before the Expo. It’s also deploying 100 city employees to enforce the new ordinance.
The city is still working out how best to communicate the change to the 3.5 million inbound tourists expected to arrive for the Expo, which will take place from April to October. According to Nikkei, foreigners account for 45% of public smoking citations in areas like Tokyo’s Akihabara.
Smoking has dropped in popularity in Japan over the past few decades due to health concerns. Only 27.8% of men and 8% of women smoke now, compared to 83.7% and 15%, respectively, in 1966. While you can still buy cigarettes from vending machines in Japan, the number of machines has dropped to around a third of their 2012 totals.
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