News Osaka to implement citywide smoking ban

[thomas]

On Tuesday, Osaka Mayor Yokoyama announced that the city will implement a citywide smoking ban on public streets starting 27 January 2025. To accommodate smokers, the city plans to establish at least 140 designated smoking areas by the implementation date, including 120 new areas and 20 refurbished ones. Previously, Osaka had a more limited smoking ban, primarily focused on specific districts like Midosuji and areas around government buildings. The ban was expanded in 2015 to include Kyobashi Station and, more recently, in preparation for the 2025 World Expo, to encompass areas around Osaka-Umeda and Tennoji stations.

The city eventually expanded the smoking-prohibited areas to all public roads and sections of Osaka. The assembly passed the latest revision in March, and it allowed the mayor to decide its effective starting date. The city also created a subsidy system to encourage private companies to build smoking spaces. An organization consisting of restaurant businesses in Osaka Prefecture submitted a petition to the Osaka city assembly in November last year, asking it to establish more public smoking spaces than initially planned. "We are scheduled to secure approximately 200 smoking spaces, including 140 that we have newly installed or renovated, and those provided for free by private institutions," Yokoyama explained at the committee on 12 November. Osaka Prefecture will also enforce its ordinance banning street smoking starting in April next year.

Osaka to ban street smoking across the city starting next January | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

 

[thomas]

Nearly a year after Osaka introduced a citywide ban on smoking in public streets, frustration is building among residents, smokers, and business owners. Despite the ordinance taking effect in January last year ahead of the Osaka–Kansai Expo, people are still frequently seen smoking outdoors, and enforcement on the ground has become a daily challenge. Osaka was the first government-designated city in Japan to implement a blanket street-smoking ban, with violators facing a ¥1,000 fine. To strengthen enforcement, the city has sharply increased the number of patrol instructors, from 17 at the start of the ban to 92.

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In busy tourist areas such as Minami, foreign visitors are often among those stopped for smoking. Confusion has grown over signage that uses English phrases such as "smoking area" without clearly stating in Japanese that the designated area is inside a shop. The situation is further complicated by the fact that patrol staff accept only cash, sometimes leaving violators unable to pay on the spot.

Osaka City says street-smoking rates have fallen by about 40% over the past year, but during just one hour of reporting, patrol instructors confirmed 18 violations, showing that smoking and littering cigarette butts remain visible across the city. Many smokers argue they have nowhere to go, saying designated smoking areas are far too few, and Osaka has received 71 requests calling for more smoking spots since the ordinance took effect, despite the city securing around 400 smoking locations as part of the policy. In one office district where complaints were concentrated, reporters found designated smoking spaces overflowing with people, with smokers spilling outside, and only two smoking areas available in the entire neighborhood, prompting one man to plead, "It's not enough at all—please build a lot more smoking areas." However, businesses that cooperate by installing smoking rooms say the cost is crushing, with one tobacco shop that set up a smoking area using Osaka City subsidies saying maintenance costs alone reach about 100,000 yen per month, including heating and professional cleaning, adding that the subsidy payments will not arrive until the next fiscal year.

Osaka’s Citywide Smoking Ban One Year Later: The Reality

Nearly a year has passed since Osaka banned smoking on streets across the entire city, but reporting on the ground has found growing frustration from residents and smokers alike, along with business owners warning they are reaching their limits.

newsonjapan.com