Japan - Japanese smokers: going the way of the dodo?

The Japanese smoker is becoming an increasingly rare breed.

According to a new survey, 21.7 percent of Japanese adults are smokers, the lowest proportion recorded since the annual report conducted by Japan Tobacco Inc. began in 1965.

The smoking population in Japan declined for the 16th consecutive year, but the latest figure is 2.2 percentage points lower than 2010, reflecting the steepest annual drop seen in recent years. It's another victory for the anti-smoking movement, against the backdrop of a pervasive smoking culture where 45.8 percent of surveyed adult men considered themselves smokers as recently as June 2005. That has now fallen to 33.7 percent, according to the JT survey released Thursday.

The curbed behavior puts Japan on the lower end of the scale compared to other corners of the world. About 20.6 percent of all US adults smoke, according to the centre for Disease Control in 2009. Over in Europe, Greece has the highest smoking rate with the proportion of smokers exceeding 40 percent, according to a European Commission study published in 2010. The same study said the smoking rate among the French came in at 34 percent and 28 percent in the UK But boasting the world's largest population, China also has the most smokers - over 300 million.

(Reuters) Japan Tobacco, the country's leading cigarette maker known as JT, attributes the decline to the graying population, greater awareness about the health risks as well as tightening smoking restrictions. Whereas Japanese smokers could light up with abandon just about anywhere in the past, new regulations have scaled back smoking spots. Local governments have designated specific areas for smoking in public congested spots, such as train stations and outside department stores. Meanwhile, walking while smoking is prohibited. But perhaps the biggest nicotine-killer in Japan has been a tax hike imposed on tobacco last October - the unprecedented increase of JPY 3.5 hike per cigarette, or JPY 70 on a pack of cigarettes led to about nearly 40 percent hike in tobacco prices.

Although the beleaguered Democratic Party of Japan is likely to shelve plans that would have hiked the tobacco tax again, albeit temporarily, the leaf is not out of the woods yet. The DPJ is expected to hold talks on a potential exclusion with opposition parties the New Komeito and the LDP, which is supported by the tobacco farmers, according to the local business daily Nikkei on Thursday.

The smoking culture here has come a long way from the 1990s, when people started to quit. The country's smoking rate among adults was 36.3 percent in 1995, the year the proportion of nicotine puffers started its long, slow decline. (Although JT notes that the survey method changed in 2006.) In Japan, it is illegal to smoke and purchase cigarettes for those under 20 years of age.

The world's third-largest tobacco company by sales volume after Phillip Morris International Inc. and British American Tobacco PLC, said in late July its group operating profit declined 9.5 percent to JPY 71.98 billion ($922.9 million) in its fiscal first quarter, hurt by the disruption of its tobacco sales following the March 11 disaster.

To deal with the changing tide, JT has pushed for compromise rather than an all-out ban on smoking like ones imposed in the US and Europe. "JT will continue its efforts to realise a society in which smokers and non-smokers can co-exist in harmony," said the company in the survey report. One example of nurturing this harmony is in urging smokers to be polite, such as courteously not littering the streets with used butts. Also, the company said it offers complimentary consulting services to restaurants, offices and stores to help create smoking and non-smoking sections before the practice is banished to the outdoors, as it is in all dining establishments in New York City.

By Yoree Koh

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