I am sitting in a rather smoky non-smoking car on a Kaiji express train as I type this (why do I always forget to avoid the seats nearest the deck).

JR East is now making a concerted effort to let everyone know that all JReast express trains and shinkansen trains will be non smoking from Mar 18. There are posters in all stations and announcements on the trains. (Thumbs up)

**EDITED TO ADD - The exceptions to this rule will include
- Sleeper trains (Casseopia, Hokutosei, Hokuriku, Abebono, Nihonkai, Sunrise, Seto, Izumo, Twighlight Express, Ginka, Fuji and Hayabusa)
- Other companies' trains that run on JR lines (Wideview Shinano, Hakutaka, Noto, Kitaguni)
- Some unscheduled trains which are chartered by private groups

On the train yesterday I was depressed to see parents with elementary sch. And nursey sch. kids in the smoking car on the way down here. (I was walking thru).

I wonder what they'll do with the bar-like smoking areas on these trains. Not many people ever used them. The ojiisan sat in the smoke-filled cars and the less considerate folks just smoked in the deck areas between cars.Mrs jib suggested turning them into business areas for mobile phone and WLAN use... Not a bad idea.