History
Until 1985, the tobacco industry was a government-run monopoly; the government of Japan is still involved in in the industry through the Ministry of Finance, which after a sell-off in March 2013, now owns only one third of Japan Tobacco's outstanding stock, and the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, which is active in public health and other tobacco control policy making.
The Diet of Japan has many MPs who have interests in the tobacco industry and thus tobacco control legislation is uncommon.
Non-smoking areas are becoming increasingly common in Japan, in homes, offices, restaurants, pachinko parlors and public areas, even in fast food or family restaurants. Kanagawa Prefecture enacted Japan's first smoke-free public places ordinance in 2009 and Hyogo Prefecture followed with a similar law in 2012. All trains either have non-smoking cars or are completely smoke-free, as are many train stations platforms in urban areas.
Read more about this topic: Smoking In Japan
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—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)
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—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
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