A counterproposal being considered by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on measures against passive smoking will effectively gut the health ministry's efforts to tighten regulations on indoor smoking in public spaces. While the health ministry plan in itself has been watered down from its original version, fierce opposition from the tobacco lobby within the LDP has kept the government from submitting the proposal to the Diet. The new smoking regulations are intended as a measure for Japan to comply with the goal of a "tobacco-free" Olympics as it prepares to host the 2020 Games in Tokyo. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who seems to care so much about the Olympics that he wants to have the Constitution amended by that year, should step in to resolve the gridlock so that the nation's control on smoking will fall more in line with international standards.

Under attack from the LDP's tobacco lobby is the draft amendment to the law on promoting public health put forward in March by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. Designed to reduce people's passive exposure to tobacco smoke, the legislation will ban smoking on the premises of such public facilities as hospitals and schools, and prohibit indoor smoking in government buildings. Restaurants, hotels and offices must be made smoke-free, but proprietors will be allowed to create smoking rooms. However, opposition from related industries to its initial plan forced the ministry to exempt small-scale bars, defined as those with a floor space less than 30 sq. meters.

Passive smoking is deemed a serious hazard to public health. The health ministry estimates that each year 15,000 people die of illnesses caused by passive smoking, even as the ratio of smokers to nonsmokers in the population has reached record lows. A World Health Organization framework convention on smoking regulations, which Japan ratified in 2004, calls on participant nations to take effective steps to protect people from passive exposure to tobacco smoke in public spaces. But so far the government has only called for efforts to prevent passive smoking in public spaces in the law aimed at promoting people's health, which carries no penalties for failure to act. Japan's response to the problem has been given the worst grade possible by the WHO.