Last night I went out with some friends for food and karaoke. We went to a restaurant called ‘Saizeriya’ which is the cheapest restaurant I have ever come across in Japan. The food was predominantly Italian, with pizzas a mere 400 yen. Glasses of wine were 100 yen each (though I was advised against these by a friend) and the beer was almost as cheap as that from the convenience store.
Like most restaurants in Japan, it had a smoking section and a non-smoking section. The smoking ban only came into effect in the UK a few years ago, but I had really got used to being able to go to bars and restaurants and not smell like an overflowing ashtray. In Japan one of the biggest culture shocks has been the acceptance, and even encouragement, of smoking. Whilst it has (only fairly recently) been banned in school staff rooms, smoking is actually perfectly legal in offices and workplaces. Some places even prefer you to smoke indoors as businesses can end up paying fines if their workers or customers drop cigarette ends on the pavement outside.
In the restaurant in question, the only seats available were in the non-smoking section (which suited us down to the ground), though it’s pretty obvious that the smoke gets everywhere. The sections were half-heartedly separated by plastic screens, which did nothing to hold back the fog of tobacco smoke that ultimately clung to our clothes and settled in our hair. It was like being in a British pub five years ago.
Japan has a much higher smoking rate than the UK, and it’s mostly males that indulge. The age at which you can buy tobacco, however, is 20 years old. Does anyone else find it shocking that people would start smoking after the age of 20? Surely you don’t need to do things like smoking to fit in with your friends after that age. But then, the Japanese do like to fit in. There are vending machines in the street which can be activated with a TASPO card (a swipe card with age and identity information on it), rows and rows of cigarettes in supermarkets and convenience stores, and cigarette adverts sporting beautiful people adorn such establishments. In one, a model has glamorous gold lipstick and gold fingernails. Her teeth and hair are perfect and she’s seductively gazing at the camera, cigarettes in hand.
I was around cigarettes for a lot longer than the UK smoking ban has been in effect, so it shouldn’t shock me to see these adverts as not much time has passed.
But it really, really does shock me. And frustrate me. I had to wash my hair once I got home so I didn’t take the stale odour to bed with me. Come on Japan, sort it out!
Like most restaurants in Japan, it had a smoking section and a non-smoking section. The smoking ban only came into effect in the UK a few years ago, but I had really got used to being able to go to bars and restaurants and not smell like an overflowing ashtray. In Japan one of the biggest culture shocks has been the acceptance, and even encouragement, of smoking. Whilst it has (only fairly recently) been banned in school staff rooms, smoking is actually perfectly legal in offices and workplaces. Some places even prefer you to smoke indoors as businesses can end up paying fines if their workers or customers drop cigarette ends on the pavement outside.
In the restaurant in question, the only seats available were in the non-smoking section (which suited us down to the ground), though it’s pretty obvious that the smoke gets everywhere. The sections were half-heartedly separated by plastic screens, which did nothing to hold back the fog of tobacco smoke that ultimately clung to our clothes and settled in our hair. It was like being in a British pub five years ago.
Japan has a much higher smoking rate than the UK, and it’s mostly males that indulge. The age at which you can buy tobacco, however, is 20 years old. Does anyone else find it shocking that people would start smoking after the age of 20? Surely you don’t need to do things like smoking to fit in with your friends after that age. But then, the Japanese do like to fit in. There are vending machines in the street which can be activated with a TASPO card (a swipe card with age and identity information on it), rows and rows of cigarettes in supermarkets and convenience stores, and cigarette adverts sporting beautiful people adorn such establishments. In one, a model has glamorous gold lipstick and gold fingernails. Her teeth and hair are perfect and she’s seductively gazing at the camera, cigarettes in hand.
I was around cigarettes for a lot longer than the UK smoking ban has been in effect, so it shouldn’t shock me to see these adverts as not much time has passed.
But it really, really does shock me. And frustrate me. I had to wash my hair once I got home so I didn’t take the stale odour to bed with me. Come on Japan, sort it out!
