Job Discussion Forums

[Tim Trowbridge]

I just returned from I trip to Japan after many years away. The first thing that jumped out at me is that when I walked into a restaurant or coffee shop, I almost gagged on the smoke. I had forgotten how much I take it for granted in my own country that when I walk into a public place, I'll have clean air to breath. (I'm from the USA.) Is there a word for second-hand smoke in Japanese? Do the Japanese even have a concept of second-hand smoke? Thanks.

[Apsara]

Yes, of course there is, and of course they do. The Japanese word is "judou kitsuen" (for some reason if I type in Japanese on this forum it doesn't work, so I can't give you the characters)- literally, "passive smoking". Japan has been making huge steps in improving this situation in recent years, enacting all kinds of new laws- you wouldn't believe how much the situation is improved from 10 years ago, when smoking sections were hardly ever properly separated from non-smoking sections and they hadn't started banning smoking anywhere on the streets.

From this week smoking will be banned in all JR station platforms in the Greater Tokyo area- another huge step. Japan is still a number of years behind many western countries in this kind of action, but it wasn't that long ago that smoking was still possible in bars etc in the US- has it been banned in all states?

[Tim Trowbridge]

Thanks for the reply. No, smoking in public places hasn't been banned in all states. However, it has been banned in the state I currently reside in (Ohio).