Smoking in Japan - Japanese Women and Smoking

Japanese Women and Smoking

Ninth month of the series Minami jūni kō
Woodcut print by Torii Kiyonaga, around 1784. A long kiseru beside one of three prostitutes (yūjo) who is reading a paper in a brothel at Shinagawa, Tokyo. The major female smokers were prostitutes (ja:遊女, yūjo?) by early 19th century.

While a high percentage of men smoke, the rate for women has not risen much beyond 10 percent. Traditionally, Japanese women who smoked were considered unfeminine.

Since the mid-1990s, the number of female smokers has risen, among young women in particular. "The manufacturers were very successful in providing cool images to the consumers," says Ministry of Health and Welfare technical officer Yumiko Mochizuki, when asked to explain the steady rise in female smokers. "Until recently, the Ministry of Health and Welfare had an understanding that smoking was entirely up to the individual."

The government's advertising ban based on the "motherhood" argument was watertight until the tobacco industry was privatized in 1985. Advertising that encourages women to smoke is forbidden in Japan under a voluntary industry agreement. The industry group pledged to voluntarily honor the advertising ban and is charged with enforcing it. United States maker Brown & Williamson sells Capri cigarettes in Japan in slim white boxes with a flower-like design on the cover. R.J. Reynolds' Tokyo billboards for Salem's Pianissimo cigarettes are green-and-pink. Philip Morris advertised its Virginia Slims brand with the slogan "Be You" in an ad campaign.

Other factors contribute to the rise in female smokers. Some observers cite stress, saying that more Japanese women are smoking to relax as more enter the workforce. Others argue that smoking is one arena in which women can have equality with men. Media influence is also cited, as many women on popular Japanese television dramas smoke.