The government made a regrettable decision when it deferred proposing tighter measures to prevent passive smoking in the face of stiff opposition from the tobacco lobby within the Liberal Democratic Party. The LDP lawmakers who shot down the proposed regulations to prohibit indoor smoking in public spaces should face up to the health problems posed by secondhand smoke and drop their opposition.
In ramming the contentious conspiracy bill — which penalizes conspiring and preparing for a crime before the act is committed — through the last Diet session, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed that the legislation was needed for Japan to join a United Nations convention on cross-border crimes and to beef up anti-terrorism measures in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But Abe does not appear interested in building a consensus within his own party on measures against passive smoking that would bring Japan more in tune with a World Health Organization convention and in line with the WHO-International Olympic Committee agreement to hold "tobacco-free" games. It would be a pity if his administration will continue to put this issue concerning public health on the political back burner.
The 2005 WHO framework convention on tobacco regulations, in which some 180 countries including Japan have taken part, calls for banning indoor smoking in public spaces such as hospitals, schools, government institutions, workplaces, restaurants and bars, and public transportation. While 49 countries now prohibit smoking in all such places, Japan has no such regulations. The law on promoting public health requires administrators of facilities where large numbers of people gather, like medical institutions, government offices and restaurants, to make efforts to prevent secondhand smoke, but it carries no penalty for failing to comply. Japan's smoking regulations have the lowest grade by the WHO.