Streets of Japan - Stonemason

nonesuch00

Cybersox said:

Stonemason said:

nomad-ads_8ecd56922e said:

Upon poking around in the product pictures for this set... I was somewhat amused to find out that apparently Japan has designated smoking and non-smoking streets.  Whatta concept!  Gotta love Japan and their sometimes off the wall societal differences. :D :D

I found it so strange that you couldn't smoke outdoors on the street,but you could smoke inside a restaurant 

It is actually banned in restaurants now, though it was on a slow rollout since 2018 and became complete in 2020, so I haven't been back since it's been completely gone.  But all the smoking in restaurants prior to that wasn't that surprising, at least for those of us who were there frequently before they outlawed smoking on the streets, and even then that was more about the cost of cleaning it up than public health.  Because so many of the Japanese smoke like chimneys, and because no one entertains at home due to tiny homes and apartments, most social life focuses on clubs and bars instead, and I remember how there were special giant streetwashing machines that used to have to go around several times a day back in the 90s, sweeping up all the butts and then steam-washing the sidewalks and cobblestones.  Seriously, since Japan has such strict recyclying laws, cigarette butts were usually the only kind of trash on the streets, with the other notable offender being the photo-cards that prostitutes and sexually oriented businesses would leave in the phone booths that would then get accidentally scattered by drunk businessmen.  It continues to baffle me how lung cancer is only the fifth most common kind of cancer in Japan... 

I've wondered about smoking not causing more cancer too. It tends to get people with emphesema & COPD much more frequently. I've known a few people that had to have portable oxygen machines carted around with them, even once, the 1st one I ever saw, a long time reserve military guy using his portable oxygen machine at weekend drill. They let him finish out his contract in spite of the oxygen machine he had to bring with him.