Smoke, as they say, gets in your eyes. Not to mention your clothes, hair, nose, lungs, taste buds, teeth, gums and (if you are a smoker) your pocketbook.
Yet, this well-hammered health hazard remains Japan's vice of choice -- a pastime to die for. Literally.
Witness the disparity of smoking to nonsmoking sections in restaurants. Watch the huddle around the smoking zones on train platforms. Consider the trail of cigarette butts on the way to most stations -- as if Japanese Hansels were marking their routes home with spent tobacco.