I have been studying tobacco regulation in Japan for over two years now, and am finally finishing my research paper which is scheduled to be published later this year in the Stanford (University) Law and Policy Review. I am very excited about having the chance to introduce a complete study of the history of tobacco regulation in Japan to Western readers, particularly to non-Japanese scholars and activists working towards tobacco control worldwide.

My paper argues that policy decisions made by bureaucrats and politicians, and not culture, explain Japan's high tobacco consumption rates (which are the third highest in the world after Greece and Poland and the highest among major industrialized nations). Thus, policy decisions, and not culture, allow 500,000 cigarette vending machines to operate (approximately one for every 250 Japanese citizens), and allow limited television and virtually unlimited radio broadcast advertising (especially on stations popular with young people). Similarly, policy decisions, and not culture, have set the phrasing of the weak warning language on cigarette packages and have made tobacco and health education a minimal priority in Japanese schools.

The Japanese government's historical monopoly ownership and control of the tobacco industry is the key point. I believe that, generally speaking, the Japanese government has actively promoted tobacco consumption and industry interests while restraining actions addressing tobacco and health, in order to keep the tobacco industry strong and its tax revenues rolling in.

But although I think policy is the primary reason for "smokers' paradise" Japan, I know that social and cultural factors may also be important. And so, in this article, I'd like to consider some of those factors. I have to admit that I'm going out of my legal science specialty here, but I hope that some Kin'en jyanaru readers might think about these ideas for fruitful consideration in the future.

First of all, the tidal wave has yet to come ashore and the real damage from tobacco in Japan is still ahead. This is because Japan's long "history" of heavy tobacco consumption is a myth. While the percentage of (male) smokers has been high throughout this century, the actual amount of tobacco consumed by Japanese smokers was rather low even until the late 1960's. Japan's growing wealth in the postwar era propelled per capita consumption through a tenfold increase: from 310 (cigarettes per person per year) in 1945, 1,220 in 1950, 2,350 in 1965, to peak in 1977 at 3,497. Since then, per capita consumption has stayed just below the 1977 peak, and consumption today is 30 percent above the 1966 level.

Japan's shallow history of tobacco consumption, reflected in low per capita consumption rates until recently, means that relatively fewer Japanese people have witnessed tobacco-related illnesses and deaths. When I was a child growing up in the U.S. in the 1960's and 70's, I watched more than a few of the smokers among my family members, my parents' friends, my teachers, as well as celebrities, die of lung cancer and other tobacco related diseases. Japanese deaths from smoking are only now starting to become common, such as the death of a elderly friend of mine from lung cancer, two years ago in Kamakura. Perhaps in the future, young Japanese experiencing the loss of smoking parents and grandparents will think twice about lighting up themselves. Also, it will be important to insist that the media tell the public of the smoking habits of leading figures who die of cancer and the like.

Second, I don't know the answer, but I often wonder whether Japanese people (on average) differ from Americans and Europeans in their value judgments concerning personal health, safety, and the implications of risk. Living in Japan, I'm often surprised by dangerous habits, besides smoking, of people around me. I see children in cars riding without seat belts or on bicycles without helmets, workers at construction jobs without basic safety protection such as ear plugs, eye guards, or hard shoes, crowded stores and markets with fire exits blocked by merchandise, and so many homes without inexpensive, but life-saving, smoke detector devices. Could it be that even though many Japanese people know about tobacco's risks, those dangers matter less when they choose to start or keep smoking?

Another item is, of course, Japan's high stress society. It may seem surprising, but we should consider that Japan may be one of the most drug-addicted nations in the world. Japan is near the top for per capita consumption of alcohol and caffeine (coffee, tea, cola, etc.), together with its heavy nicotine addiction maintained through cigarettes. What is happening here? How do these drugs help Japanese people cope with the stress of their lives? One Canadian psychologist has suggested that smoking is "the one thing in your life that you can control". Does this explain why Japanese salarymen need to smoke? And in a society with inequality between men and women, could it be that non-smoking women's voices are overlooked (e.g., non-smoking wives at home, OL's in the office), while other women, especially recently many young women, take up smoking in an effort to express a sense of independence.

Next, we should consider how Japanese "groupism" affects the tobacco issue. As everyone reading this magazine probably learned while still in school, "the nail that sticks up is hammered down" in Japan. What does that lesson have to do with tobacco? First, since there’s already a "smoking consensus" in Japanese society, it may be difficult for some to speak out for change, for example, by asking co-workers to stop smoking around us. Second, young people in Japan may be particularly vulnerable to advertising imagery and general social trends and therefore more likely to start smoking as a result. Furthermore, the more that young people smoke, a cycle will spin on itself, and other young people will want to do it too just to fit in.

Finally, Japanese cultural notions of uchi/soto (inside(r)/outside(r)) might help explain why Japan stands out. Thus, on the one hand, the social obligations that arise within one's own group (family, company, friends, and even the society as a whole) might generate tolerance (gaman) of smoking by others. On the other hand, perhaps there is a disinclination to be concerned with tobacco-related harms suffered by unrelated strangers (tanin), and so, typical Japanese citizens may be less inclined to get involved with the efforts of Japan’s hard-working anti-smoking groups. The door is open for others to look into these important questions. As we come to understand the situation from many perspectives, our ability to find effective solutions will certainly increase.

Kin'en Jyanaru (The Non-smoking Journal) is published by TOPIC, the Tobacco Problems Information Center, Executive Director, Bungaku Watanabe. TOPIC is located at Kudan Central Bldg. #203, 2-1-4 Iidabashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102, Telephone 03-3222-6781, Fax 03-3222-6780. top

© 1996, Mark A. Levin, Assistant Professor, William S. Richardson School of Law, The University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822

(translation by Vicki L. Beyer)

Temple University Japan