A smoking room on a Tokaido line bullet train, which will no longer allow smoking on board. - PHOTO: JTKANM13/X via The Straits Times/ANN
TOKYO (The Straits Times): Bullet trains in Japan have went smoke-free since March 16, with the ban on smoking leaving casual and habitual smokers without room to take a puff on the move.
The change for passengers came as the Tokaido, Sanyo and Kyushu lines, scrapped enclosed “smoking rooms” on their trains, a move their train operator Japan Railway (JR) announced in October which removed the last vestiges of smoking on trains.
The three lines together cover the largest Japanese metropolitan cities from Tokyo in the east, to Kyoto, Osaka until Kyushu in the west.
Passengers in need of a puff are still able to access smoking sections at railway stations before their trains depart.
JR had said in October that the space vacated by the smoking rooms will be converted into storage space for emergency water rations.
Most newer lines have already done away without the smoking rooms on their bullet trains, or shinkansen in Japanese, since 2007.
Smoking is also banned on most local and express trains in Japan.
Japan’s Health Promotion Act had prompted most train operators in the country to ban smoking by virtue of the law directing companies to prevent second-hand or passive smoking since 2003.
Gone in a puff
Some passengers on the bullet trains who missed the earlier announcement about the total smoking ban, sharing photos on social media of the signs notifying riders of the prohibition alongside their expressions of surprise.
Others posted that they were lighting up for the last time on the high-speed trains.
“I think it’s time to start thinking about quitting smoking... I just have to start thinking about it,” popular comedian Shintaro Moriyama, a frequent smoker, wrote in jest on X.
Not all in Japan expressed lament, with some passengers welcoming the change in regulations. “Finally,” one wrote on X.
A JR official said the growing health awareness in Japan and declining smoking rates among the public were key considerations that led to the call to completely ban smoking on bullet trains.
“Because we are required to prevent secondhand smoke, the decision was unavoidable if we put our customers first,” he told Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun. - The Straits Times/ANN
