Kanagawa Prefecture Enacts First-Ever Smoking Ban In Modern Japanese History - J-Times

[hatrack]

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Japan's first antismoking ordinance took effect Thursday in Kanagawa Prefecture, banning smoking in public facilities, including hospitals, schools and government offices. The ordinance requires large restaurants and hotels to choose whether to become nonsmoking or create separate smoking areas, while mah-jongg and pachinko parlors, restaurants with floor space of up to 100 sq. meters and hotels of up to 700 sq. meters are merely required to "make efforts" to prevent passive smoking.

Kanagawa is the first among the 47 prefectures to impose such a ban. Many public facilities and major restaurants have already gone nonsmoking or separated smoking areas ahead of enforcement of the ordinance, prefectural officials said.

A fine of ¥2,000 is to be imposed on individual violators and ¥20,000 on managers of facilities, the officials said.

The prefectural assembly, which approved the ordinance in March 2009, passed another ordinance last month to ban smoking at swimming beaches. It is expected to be enforced in May.

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