Get Off Sidewalks, Smokers Go Inside
Get Off Sidewalks, Smokers Go Inside |
Outdoor Smoking Ban in Tokyo
Get Off Those Sidewalks, Smokers, and Go Inside - In many countries, it is illegal to
smoke indoors, but legal to smoke outdoors. In Tokyo, people light up with abandon
in restaurants, taxis and many offices. But now on some congested downtown sidewalks,
new red-and-white stencils mark zones where it is illegal to smoke outdoors.
Health-conscious Americans might suspect the new rules are an effort to shield
nonsmokers from secondhand smoke, or to put a dent in cancer rates. But to Japanese
critics, the new outdoor smoking ban suggests that officials in this tidy nation worry
more about singed suits than sooty lungs. The new rules, which apply only to premier
districts of central Tokyo, are intended not to promote health, but rather to cut the
litter of discarded cigarette butts and to reduce damage to clothing on busy sidewalks.
As much as a triumph of abstainers over smokers, the new laws also reflectarare victory
for women in the country's subtle war between the sexes. Half of Japan's men smoke
a pack a day, by far the highest rate among major developed nations. In contrast,
Japanese women, who like to project an image of fresh-faced purity, smoke at the
lowest rates in the developed world -- 14 percent. They have supported the ban most."
"Manners in public spaces must come ahead of individual habits," said Masami Ishikawa,
mayor of the Chiyoda ward. The ward is the nation's spiritual, political, commercial and
media nerve center, encompassing the Parliament building, the Imperial Palace, part
of the Ginza, downtown banks, hotels and companies.
"Chiyoda residents want the ward to become free of cigarette butts one very busy
street," the 60-year-old mayor added. "I hope the ordinance will prompt new rules
on the nation's smoking culture."With the measure here winning widespread publicity,
a host of other cities across the country have contacted the ward government for
advice for their own outdoor antismoking laws. But despite the annoyance of a $20
fine for smoking on a downtown sidewalkin central Tokyo, Japan is likely to remain
a smoker's paradise. The government earns $17 billion in taxes from cigarette sales,
and a"tobacco tribe" of lawmakers in Parliament makes sure that there is no
serious financing for antismoking campaigns.Japan is the world's largest importer
of cigarettes, about 83 billion a year. Japanese smokers also pay the some of the
lowest taxes in the developed world, only $1.16 a pack. With cigarette
vending machines operating nationwide, the $2 pack costs the equivalent of eight
minutes of work in Tokyo, compared with 20 minutes in Los Angeles and 40 minutes
in London. Health advocates say the crackdown in parts of Tokyo may push some
smokers to quit. But they concede that it may also simply force smokers inside,
sparing dresses perhaps, but exposing others to more second-hand smoke than
before.
Please refer a full story By JAMES BROOKE TOKYO, The New York Times. Nov. 28 2002.
日本では喫煙規制対象が逆
日本では路上喫煙禁止など屋外の喫煙規制が先行しているが、タバコ規制先進国では閉鎖空間内の
全面禁煙を先ず実施している。レストラン、カフェ、バーなどの飲食店、ホテルのロビーや通路、
オフイス、工場、公共交通機関（列車、タクシーなど）などの完全禁煙化を法律で強制（義務化）する
のがファーストステップだ。ハワイでは２００２年〜２００３年に飲食店などの強制禁煙を実施した
後に、２００６年１１月に施行した新禁煙法に見られるように、不備な点を見直し、新たな規制を
加えている。例えば建物出入口、窓 、ダクト吸入口の２０フィート（約６メートル）以内の空間を
喫煙禁止の場所とした。これは室内空間を利用する人々の安全を保証するための規制である。しかし、
現在のところ、それを越える屋外の範囲については明確な喫煙規制はほとんど見られない。
日本では最近、歩行喫煙規制が話題になっており、東京都千代田区の実例を見てみると本当に
素晴らしいことだ。しかし、タバコ副流煙の有害性よりも街の美観、タバコの火による障害防止に
重点を置いているために、屋外の喫煙規制が真っ先に実施されている。不可解なことに、受動喫煙の
リスクは閉鎖空間内で最大になることが明白であるにも拘わらず、政府、地方自治体では、こうした
医学的な理由を全く無視し、閉鎖空間内の全面喫煙規制を行っていない。残念なことだが、こうした
行政の無知、無策を追求する政治的な動きは皆無に近い。
路上喫煙規制も大切だが、日本では法的規制の順番が明らかに間違っている。
日本では喫煙規制対象が逆
2007年4月執筆 2009年12月加筆
「禁煙席ネット」主宰 日本タバコフリー学会顧問 医学博士 宮本順伯
★This Web site is link-free.
The article was written in April 2007, and revised in December 2009,
by Junhaku Miyamoto, M.D., PhD.
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レンタカー レストラン バー 飲食店 ホテル 空港 喫煙規制 