Smoking In Japan

smoking is a health hazard goddamit !

As a non-smoker, the issue of cigarettes and smoking in Japan has long been an issue for me. Japan are still years behind most Western countries when it comes to smoking in restaurants and public places. Sure the major JR stations have a ‘smokers box’ aka as the cancer box, where smokers head in there and chuff away like it’s their final ciggy. If you’re in a restaurant and someone is smoking the best thing to do is to politely ask them to stop. Here’s the phrase:

‘koko tobacco yamate kudasai’ which tranlates as ‘please stop smoking here’

If they persist, you may as well just get up and leave, but that’s the phrase to try anyway.