[Intl-tobacco] Japan, a tobacco bastion, now less tolerant of smokers

[robert.weissman@essentialinformation.org]

Japan, a tobacco bastion, now less tolerant of smokers
By Sonia Krishnan | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
from the May 18, 2004 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0518/p07s01-woap.html

TOKYO - Kenichiro Watanabe lounges on a bench in Shibuya, one of Tokyo's
busiest
entertainment districts, and lights up a cigarette. Right behind him is a
large no
smoking sign. The 22-year-old exhales a cloud of smoke. "These rules don't
affect
me," he said. "Nobody's checking. Nobody cares." In a nation long considered
a
smoker's haven, it may take time for tobacco restrictions to hold sway. But
now,
antismoking efforts - including lawsuits and new restrictions - are moving
forward
as people grow less tolerant of Japan's nicotine-friendly culture.

"It's a simple fact that most people don't like tobacco smoke," says Mark
Levin, an
associate professor of law at the University of Hawaii, who studies Japan's
tobacco-control movement. Moreover, the health risks and related costs are
getting
more attention. The antismoking "voices are being heard now," says Mr.
Levin. After
World War II, Japan enjoyed a cigarette consumption boom, reaching a high in
1966
when more than 80 percent of Japanese males smoked. While today 50 percent
of men
and 14 percent of women smoke, cancer rates are catching up to consumption
rates,
says Yumiko Mochizuki-Kobayashi, an epidemiologist and section chief for the
National Institute of Public Health in Tokyo.

Tobacco use in Japan remains among the highest in the industrialized world,
and
smoking norms are reminiscent of the US 30 to 40 years ago, Levin says.
Japan
Tobacco (JT), the country's largest cigarette manufacturer, says it doesn't
keep
data on minors who smoke, but tobacco control advocates estimate the number
hovers
around 20 percent.

But changes are surfacing that would have been unimaginable just five years
ago.
Train platforms - a refuge for workers to take a few drags during long
commutes -
are increasingly smoke-free. In a more dramatic step, Tokyo lawmakers passed
a
landmark ordinance in 2002, fining offenders up to $200 for smoking on
public
sidewalks. The move marked the world's first ban on lighting up in crowded
outdoor
areas.

"The government has reached the starting line of reducing tobacco use," Dr.
Mochizuki-Kobayashi says. "Now it's time to figure out where to go from
here." It
could be an uphill trudge. Japan's antitobacco laws are among the weakest in
the
developed world. Perhaps because the Japanese government and the tobacco
industry
are intertwined. More than 60 percent of JT is controlled by the Ministry of
Finance. The alliance grew out of a need to secure revenues for the military
and
keep foreign tobacco interests at bay a century ago. As JT's major
stakeholder, the
Ministry of Finance sets cigarette prices at about $2.75 a pack and collects
billions in cigarette tax revenues for government coffers.


Despite the state's ownership, a group of lawmakers in Parliament is now
helping to
push the antismoking agenda forward. In March, Japan signed the World Health
Organization's Framework on Tobacco Control. It requires countries to impose
tough
restrictions on tobacco advertising and highlight health warnings on tobacco
products. The burgeoning antismoking movement threatens JT's profit margins
here.
The manufacturer has responded with ad campaigns calling on smokers to
practice
better etiquette. "While JT does not want local authorities to uniformly
regulate
smoking in public spaces with penalties, the company does want to promote
better
smoking manners," says Hiroyoshi Ebara, head of JT's social environment
creation
division.

But money generated from tobacco sales comes at the expense of people's
health, say
some observers. "The society at large incurs a great economic loss by the
consumption of tobacco," says Tadao Hozumi, legal adviser for Japan's
Tobacco
Problems Information Center. "This is borne out of loss of manpower, early
deaths,
sickness.... The indirect toll far exceeds any revenue the government gets
directly."

In 1998, six plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against JT claiming that they
contracted
smoking-related illnesses because there was no adequate health warning on
the
dangers of nicotine. It was the first lawsuit of its kind here. Last
October, the
Tokyo District Court threw out the case, ruling that "the addictiveness of
tobacco
products is not so strong that one cannot quit smoking by one's own will."

The three living plaintiffs have appealed, and the case is scheduled for a
hearing
next week at the Tokyo High Court. Meanwhile, tobacco-control advocates say
they
are hopeful but realistic for what the future will bring. "No gain can be
won at
once," Mochizuki-Kobayashi says. "You have challenge, challenge, challenge."