09.14.07
Take that cigarette outside!…not in Tokyo.
While American states and cities are systematically banning smoking in indoor public establishments, the city of Tokyo has recently enacted a law which has banned smoking in outdoor public establishments as well. Outdoor smoking is now restricted to special smoking zones. Like China, Japan has high rates of smoking, and from what I gathered from the locals, people are not too stoked about this new regulation. However, based on my limited observation (I was only there 3 days), it did seem that a large portion of Tokyo’s smokers are complying by the new rules. With serial public smoking becoming increasingly difficult in Japan and the United States, one might wonder if at some point the smoking dominoes will begin to fall in China as well. My personal thought is that as long as the Chinese government remains interested in promoting “stability” and creating a “harmonious society” smoking will go on unchecked in virtually every nook and cranny of the Middle Kingdom.
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| Smokers congregate in the designated smoking area outside of Shibuya Station. |
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A sign clarifies the policy for those uninitiated.
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Japanese anti-smoking propaganda (closeup of sign in the middle of the first picture)
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naturegirl
said,
September 15, 2007 at 1:55 am
I like that sentence “A lit cigarette is carried at the height of a child’s face”.
In Hong Kong I also noticed that smoking in certain public areas, especially parks isn’t allowed. This is also a good rule, but completely banning smoking outside seems a very big step to me.
carol
said,
September 15, 2007 at 12:42 pm
hi.how are you going.
i knew you BLOG from Bilingual Time.
“Restrict smoking outdoor ” i think most of people agree that,because it very health to peopel.but in china,In my opinion,i think this rule is diffifult to carry out.some elderly adults are very hard to get ride of it .
like japen and other some countries also delcare this rule,but how to deal with the economic promble?cigarettes can increase country’s economic.
i hope that china olso can restrict smoking outside.Even though still have some promble.
Matt Schiavenza
said,
September 16, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Yeah- I’m not optimistic that smoking will become less prevalent in China anytime soon. If anything, smoking seems to be on the rise here as many “modern” young women have taken up the habit. You very rarely see women over the age of forty smoking but plenty between eighteen and thirty seem to.
matrix
said,
September 16, 2007 at 1:40 pm
well,i srongly support this regulation.smoking is fool,and what can we get from smoke?cancer,pollution ,or f**k pleasure?
chriswaugh_bj
said,
September 16, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Actually, I’ve seen quite a few older Chinese women smoke. It seems to me that it’s those born between the 50s and late 70s who don’t smoke.
Carol: I’m not convinced that smoking helps a country’s economy. Of course, China’s high smoking rate helps Yunnan and other tobacco growing areas, but at the same time, to get a true picture of tobacco’s impact on an economy, you have to take into account money lost to problems caused by smoking. Smokers tend to be less productive and take more time off work due to illness, for starters- that costs the economy. Secondly, China spends more money treating illnesses caused by smoking than it earns through taxes on tobacco products or the state tobacco monopoly. I think on balance smoking, like other forms of pollution, is actually costing China and holding back China’s economic growth.
And I’m a reformed smoker myself.
Another Laowai
said,
September 17, 2007 at 11:40 am
If China tried to ban smoking, what would people do after car accidents? Typically the two drivers will take out their “murses” and exchange cigarettes while trying place the blame on the other. If smoking was banned, OMG, they might have to exchange insurance information instead!!!
James Chiang
said,
September 17, 2007 at 11:25 pm
It seems the smokers In the first picture are mostly elder people.
I used to smoke when I was around 20, I thought it was very cool. But gradually, I found the elder people smoke, the migrant workers smoke, the hooligans smoke. Then, I quited it.
Chip
said,
September 18, 2007 at 10:26 am
China will likely never ban smoking because cigarette taxes are a HUGE source of revenue for the government. That, and China has never really cared about the health of its people to begin with. Although Taiwan is no better, I believe the cigarette companies actually give out free cigaretts to the army (IE, all males in Taiwan are required to join the army, thus addicting the entire male populace as customers for life).
羲
said,
September 18, 2007 at 5:07 pm
China will likely never ban smoking , because this measure is a huge subject and not only depend on government, also depend on people’s consciousness.How huge it is.
chriswaugh_bj
said,
September 18, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Chip, cigarette taxes are a huge source of revenue, but spending on smoking-related diseases is an even huger drain on revenue. Add on to that economic losses caused by smoking- less productivity, more days off sick, etc, and smoking becomes a pretty huge drain on the Chinese economy.
羲: Too many Chinese people think that way. “Oh, it’s such a huge problem, well, we’ll do nothing then.” That’s bullshit. Smoking costs China too much. Something must be done. Face up to the problem and deal with it. Plenty of other countries have dealt with it, there’s no reason China can’t.
Benjamin Ross
said,
September 19, 2007 at 12:42 am
I have to say I agre with both Chip and Chris Waugh on this one. I’ve always likened the “smoking helps the economy” argument with the “cars help the economy” argument…short term economic growth in exchange for a lot of uncertainty about the future. As for the argument that “China doesn’t care about the health of its people,” I would also add to this that China also has a well-publicized population problem. Making people live longer probably is not first on the government’s agenda of social services issues.
Chip
said,
September 19, 2007 at 10:42 am
Chriswaugh_bj,
I absolutely agree with you , it is a bigger drain than any revenue possibly gained from the taxes. However, since most of that revenue doesn’t GO to solving the health problems and other economic problems caused by cigarrette smoking, and is instead placed in the pockets of government officials, there is no incentive for change of policy. It’s a nasty horrible problem, and something needs to be done about it, but I don’t see the government doing anything about it soon.
And yeah, I’ve never liked the “it’s such a huge problem, China has too many people” arguement either. It’s a copout.