Smoking in Japan

Japan is the most restrictive country in the world when it comes to smoking, and it got much worse since the Covid outbreak. While smoking on the streets was banned already before the pandemic, there were good options for the addicts like myself. Not anymore!

Before the pandemic, there were many designated smoking areas all over big cities, outside stations, in busy spots, in certain buildings. Today, you can hardly find any, and the few that still exist were reduced in size. I clearly remember the smoking spot at Shibuya, it was a large area. Today this small box is found there which is clearly not big enough at the world's busiest crossing. So the solution they found is to employ someone who lets in as many people as exited, the rest have to stand in line and wait for their turn.

This is the smoking area at Ueno. I remember, here too, there was a much larger area.

This is the smoking area at Shinjuku. I don't remember how big the previous one was, but this is quite small in Tokyo's other busiest spot. As a result, people who get in smoke 2-3 cigarettes in one go. I didn't find any other outdoors smoking area in Tokyo.

In the past, most convenience stores had a smoking room - today, there are hardly any. In Tokyo I found only one, and in other cities it's not much better.

If a convenience store didn't have a smoking room, there was an ashtray outside as pictured below. Today, I didn't find a single store in Tokyo where this was the case. In other cities, in the suburbs, you can still come across this.

At Tokyo Station, again one of the busiest spots in the city, there isn't a smoking area. However, as I was advised, in the pictured building across from the station on the 6th or 7th floor (I don't recall exactly) there is a smoking room.

However, inside Tokyo Station, on the Shinkansen platform, there is a smoking room. Most stations have one inside, but usually only on the Shinkansen platform, not in the regular trains' area. This might be because in the past inside the Shinkansen trains there was a smoking room, but not anymore.

But sometimes you find a smoking area in unusual locations. For example here, in Glover Garden which is a museum.

I also found a smoking area in a temple near Nara.

While in most places smokers are persecuted, restaurants and bars can make their own rules. Many put an ashtray outside, and all of a sudden it is allowed for their customers to smoke on a street where it is otherwise forbidden. And you can also smoke inside many bars.