Tourism Smokers finally banned on all Shinkansen lines

Effective 16 March, smoking rooms on the Tokaido, Sanyo, and Kyushu Shinkansen lines have been completely abolished, prohibiting smoking on all bullet trains nationwide. This move follows the earlier ban on smoking in the Nagano (Hokuriku), Tohoku, Joetsu, Akita, and Yamagata Shinkansen lines, which was implemented in 2003 due to the Health Promotion Law's requirement to prevent secondhand smoke exposure. While the N700 series bullet trains on the Tokaido and Sanyo lines have been nonsmoking since their introduction in 2007, passengers previously had access to smoking rooms outside the seating areas. However, these closed-off smoking rooms were eliminated as part of the recent timetable revisions by Japan Railway companies.

Some smokers have complained about the removal, saying that smokers helped pay off the debt accumulated by Japanese National Railways. This state-owned enterprise was privatized into Japan Railway companies in 1987. The unique tobacco surtax, one of the four types of taxes levied on cigarettes, was created in October 1998 to repay the debts of the JNR and the government's national forestry operations. A transport ministry bureaucrat said one Diet member, a smoker, recently criticized Japan Railway companies for their decision to do away with Shinkansen smoking rooms, pointing out that smokers shouldered part of the JNR debt. On the social media platform X, a poster said that smokers have gotten a "raw deal" for helping repay the JNR debt with the special tobacco surtax. In the special tobacco surtax, smokers pay 16.4 JPY (USD 0.11) per pack or 0.82 JPY per cigarette. The levy brought in 112.2 billion JPY in revenue in fiscal 2020. The JNR debt has fallen to 15 trillion JPY, down from 28 trillion JPY when the state-owned enterprise was disbanded.

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Hard to believe it. I personally never had a problem with the smoking rooms in the trains. I know that smoking in general is a drain on resources due to increased medical costs, but I always figured that people have the right to make informed choices about smoking, even on trains, as long as people who didn't want to breathe in second-hand smoke didn't have to.

I suppose I'd be somewhat upset if I were a smoker, too. But, alas, the one constant in life is change. To embrace life is to embrace change.

Gen X comment coming up but:

I can remember when there were smoking sections on airplanes. The smoking section was where you could get some deals, because there would be empty seats, and you could get an economy class seat in the smoking section, and have the whole row to yourself as certain flights were unable to fill the smoking section seats. So you could lift up the armrests and lie down for the whole flight. Meanwhile the ambient smoke would get filtered through the airplane's system pretty well, so you didn't feel like you were getting second-hand lung cancer.

With that recollection, I remember sometime in the early 2010s being offered the option of a smoking-section seat on the Shinkansen at a convenient time, or a non-smoking section seat at an inconvenient time. This was when there were smoking cars on the trains, as opposed to the sealed cubicles at the end of the train where smokers gather to stand and puff. Anyway, I recalled my experience with smoking sections on airplanes, so I opted for a seat in the smoking-section of the train with the most convenient time. It was one of the worst travel decisions I've ever made. The proximity to the smoker, the incessant puffing of EVERYONE in that section, one cigarette after the other, and the poor circulation system in the train, made it a horrible experience. Just deadly to inhale, and your whole body reeked of cigarette smoke after an hour or so. Nobody smokes as hard as a old salaryman in the confined space of a Shinkansen.

I really felt sorry for the trolley cart servers on that train. You'd never get the smell out of your clothes or your hair if you worked that section. I guess they phased out smoking cars entirely sometime in the last decade.

Majestic said:

have the whole row to yourself ,,, So you could lift up the armrests and lie down for the whole flight.

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This is the kind of tale that old folks relay to their grandkids.

I catch myself doing it so often nowadays. When I get grandkids, I'm going to be insufferable.

Mikawa Ossan said:

I always figured that people have the right to make informed choices about smoking, even on trains, as long as people who didn't want to breathe in second-hand smoke didn't have to.

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I think precisely herein lies the problem: smoking sections on trains or in restaurants often aren't well-insulated and circulated. Doors need to be opened, cigarette smoke escapes, and smokers still rub their clothes' smoke stench under everyone's nose. I'm sorry to admit that the older I grow, the less tolerant I am towards smokers. I remember the smoking flights in the 80s with horror and disbelief.