smoking in japan

Prior to becoming a widow, Felicity's life revolved around her job and her husband, Bill -- a heavy smoker like herself -- who was killed by a drunk driver not lung cancer; and of all the countries she's visited since his death it was only in far-away Japan that she was able to light up in public without attracting the sort of hate-filled censure that she exprienced everywhere else.

"Bill's generous life insurance policy allowed me to retire early and devote my life to traveling regularly between continents to visit family and friends," says Felicity, "but as bad as the post-9/11 restrictions on overseas travel have been, none is as bad as the restrictions that have also been put on smokers, not just at airports but in all areas of life."

"There's something about having plenty of money that opens the doors you want opened -- such as travel -- and shuts those you want closed -- such as work," says Felicity, "but unfortunately in respect of my smoking it hasn't helped me at all."

"I've been smoking since I was 14, I enjoy it and have no intention of quitting," says Felicity. "For all the heath warnings it was not smoking that killed Bill and it was chain-smoking, not medication or God, that got me through the terrible period after his death."

"Amazingly, while I never got abused for smoking when Bill was alive I seem to attract heaps of it now."

"People don't seem to abuse men, young women or couples for smoking," says Felicity, "but older women out alone seem to be easy targets. Honestly, Bill would turn in his grave if he could see how people treat me now, but I won't allow them to hurt me. Bill left me money so that I could be free -- and that's how I intend to live."

"Actually, the anti-smoking culture is so bad in western countries that I'm seriously considering settling somewhere else," says Felicity. "And Japan would be top of my list if they would accept me!"

"I don't know anyone in Japan, and I only landed there by accident on a stopover," says Felicity, "but I was so impressed by everything Japanese that I'm planning on visiting again soon and flying JAL everywhere."

"I don't know whether they do it to every departing plane, or whether there was something special about the plane I was flying in -- possibly my smiling face pressed up against the window, but hardly likely -- yet I was pleasantly surprised, and so were my fellow travelers, when the maintenance crew at Osaka airport actually lined up and waved at us as the plane taxied down the runway heading for the wide blue yonder."

"You wouldn't see them doing that at LAX or Heathrow," laughed Felicity. "Everyone on board -- except the nervous Japanese businessmen sucking on dummy cigarettes in preparation for facing the anti-smoking west -- was as impressed as I was by the waving maintenance crew."

"Japan must be the last civilized country on the planet that is tolerant of smokers," says Felicity, "and yet its national airline, JAL, was forced by global pressure to adopt western standards in regard to in-flight smoking and the Japanese travelers really hate these restrictions."

"I don't know whether the domestic Japanese airlines are similarly smoke-free," says Felicity, "but nobody can complain about a smoke-free ban on short flights. It's being trapped in the sky for twelve hours or more without the comfort and relief of a cigarette that upsets smokers -- and that’s why the Japanese invented the dummy cigarette!"

"You are supposed to suck on it and get the same satisfaction as a real cigarette," explains Felicity, "but if it works to ease the withdrawal symptoms then I feel that the Japanese must be more addicted to sucking than smoking -- in which case a regular baby pacifier would have been cheaper to buy, but of course its image would not have been as good as a dummy cigarette!"

"Also, to ease the burden on its predominantly smoking customers," explains Felicity, "Osaka airport has plenty of indoor sections where smoking is permitted. At any other airport around the world, smokers are forced outside in the freezing cold or stinking heat to indulge in their habit, and while it is a strange place to meet people I must admit to meeting more interesting people in these inhospitable places than anywhere else!"

"Once upon a time, smokers blended into the general population," sighs Felicity. "Now they stick out like sore thumbs outside buildings all over the world -- huddled together, like outcasts -- with the only thing in common between them often being nothing more than a nicotine addiction."

"I hate to see this western anti-smoking hatred being exported to Japan because it was the only country I've visited so far where I was not the slightest bit harassed for smoking."

"When I sat on a bench outside a busy shopping center to have a puff," says Felicity, "no strangers passing by were inspired by the sight of me smoking in public to do the sort of thing they do in other parts of the world. You know, artificial and very loud coughing designed to mimic a smoker's cough; loud and abusive comments about smoking; and cold, hard, disapproving stares."

"Before I learned that Japan has the lowest incidence of lung cancer and smoking related diseases in the world -- despite having the heaviest smokers in the world -- indicating that the Japanese know something good about smoking that the western world has hushed up, I wondered whether the Japanese government was deliberately withholding health warnings from its people," says Felicity. "So sold was I on the anti-smoking crap that I thought the Japanese government might be too ashamed to go hard on the product while it is reaping vast profits from taxing it, or that it was too gracious to dictate what people should and should not do."

"I am now convinced that Japan's national tolerance towards smoking is actually based on medical science -- it is not a health hazard," says Felicity. "What the rabid anti-smoking fraternity in the west hates is the smell of cigarette smoke and there are no doubt many Japanese who feel the same way but the culture is so civilized and gracious that nobody would dare criticize someone for making a bad smell!"

"I was only in Japan for two days," says Felicity, "but I gained the distinct impression that nobody is a ‘tourist’ in Japan. Instead, they are honored guests."

"Everyone from the shop assistants, the hotel staff, the airline staff, the Japanese public and my fellow travelers," says Felicity, "was gracious, friendly and smiling. And it wasn't fake, either. They were genuinely pleased to serve you, and converse with you."

"The young Japanese student sitting next to me on the flight to Osaka actually initiated a conversation with me," laughs Felicity. "Young western men usually lack the courtesy to acknowledge any woman who isn't in their age group, let alone speak to them, so I was very pleased to have my flight enriched by stimulating conversation."

"Being a widow -- especially a smoking one -- can be a lonely existence," says Felicity, "so I am very grateful for the kind attention I do get. It sort of reminds me of my childhood -- I was a middle child, all of the attention went to big sister and little brother -- and the only person who had any time for me was a disabled neighbor, marginalized by her color and disability."

"You remember those things," adds Felicity, "and you also can't help remembering a Japanese welcome and farewell. The Japanese really know how to make everyone feel special. Including old women who smoke!"