One of the things often written to students and businessmen concerning long term stays in Japan is, “Can you stand the smoking?” Can you live in a house where the father smokes? Can you work in an office where break-time equals smoke-break? It’s a tough situation. The only reliable non-smoking restaurant/cafe that I have found in this country is Starbucks. In all other places Non-Smoking and Smoking tables are seperated by a whole six inches of air.
Kyoto is not that bad, though. The train companies have banned smoking on the platforms and trains, most stores are smoke-free, and a large part of the smoking population refrains from lighting up while walking down the street.
Osaka, however, is a different story. I went down around lunchtime today to get my visa for Vietnam, about the same time all the businessmen have their lunch breaks. It is often said that Osaka is a big, dirty city, but I think I could handle the occasional litter and mild smogginess if I could see through the clouds of cigarette smoke and pay attention to more than avoiding being used as an ashtray by a passing smoker. I don’t think I saw more than four people not holding a cigarette in their hand.
I’m back in Kyoto now, but I can still smell the smoke in my nostrils and in my hair and on my clothes. I kindof wish that Japanese people would start to die of lung cancer in droves, just so the image would be potent enough to get through to the rest of the chain-smokers in this country. But somehow, they don’t. Maybe it’s the green tea. I haven’t a clue.
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