Japan - Paid Public Smoking Booths

A private company will start paid public smoking booths in Tokyo.
You tap with Suica or Pasmo IC card and get debited 50 yen to enter the booths.
In Ochanomizu and Kanda, open in July.

World's first ?

Nikkei in Japanese
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXNZO42698550X10C12A6TJE000/?dg=1

Only in Japan!

If the booth holds two people, I could see going in, obscuring the view with smoke, and then....cheaper than a love hotel!

That is such a change from when I first went to Japan in the 1970s. Back then, most men smoked--anywhere and anytime they felt like it.

There was no such thing as a non-smoking restaurant or bar, or even a non-smoking section.

Most cars on the trains, including the Shinkansen, allowed smoking. I always made train reservations to be sure of getting a seat in one of the non-smoking cars, of which there were at most two out of sixteen.

Things had been changing gradually over the years, but I was surprised, returning after a gap of five years, to find lots of non-smoking restaurants, even more with non-smoking sections, and more non-smoking than smoking cars on the trains, even to the extent of entire trains that ban smoking. The biggest surprise was finding an outdoor designated smoking area near Shibuya Station.

The other change that I noticed was the addition of Korean and Chinese to Japanese and English on public signs and train notices. I first saw Korean and Chinese signage in Kansai a few years ago, but now quadrilingual signs were all over Tokyo as well.

They took away all of the smoking areas on the JR line platforms in the Kanto region about five years ago. I'm not sure if they remain on any platforms now...

They took away all of the smoking areas on the JR line platforms in the Kanto region about five years ago. I'm not sure if they remain on any platforms now...
There's definitely one on the Southbound Shinkansen platform at Sendai Station. We initially thought there was a crowd around an elevator, on approaching we realised it was a load of guys corralled into a smoking area.

Interesting. Mind you, Sendai isn't a Kanto region station (although it is JREast) ... Did they get rid of the smoking huddle at the end of the platform at Ichigaya station? That one was there as recently as Feb 2011, I'm almost sure.

There's still smoking spots on the shinkansen platforms at Shinagawa

There's still smoking spots on the shinkansen platforms at Shinagawa

That's because they're owned and operated by JR Central, which still allows smoking on their platforms (and in cars on many of their trains).

They took away all of the smoking areas on the JR line platforms in the Kanto region about five years ago. I'm not sure if they remain on any platforms now...

... and in some cases, what used to obviously be smoking areas, including fully-enclosed areas with doors such that the smoke wouldn't bother anyone outside even if nearby, have been converted to non-smoking "waiting" areas.