24 January 2025
By Shinji Hakotani – The Asahi Shimbun
OSAKA—To further discourage illegal smoking in public, nonsmokers recommend harsher penalties against violators while smokers are calling for more spaces where they can legally light up, a survey showed.
The Osaka city government, which introduced the ban in January 2025, surveyed 500 men and women living in the city on what more can be done to clean up public streets. It released the results on Dec. 25.
Allowed to choose multiple answers, 47.4 percent of the 363 nonsmokers called for an “increase in fines” against street smokers from the current 1,000 yen ($6.40).
Up to 43.0 percent of the nonsmokers want authorities to ramp up “public patrols and awareness” toward curbing cigarette usage on public roads.
On the other side, 59.9 percent of the 137 smokers surveyed said introducing “more cigarette zones” would be an urgent countermeasure against street smoking.
The municipality plans to further reduce the number of street smokers through such measures as setting up an additional 65 smoking areas.
According to Osaka city, 195 smoking corners managed by the municipal government or subsidized private entities were freely available as of Nov. 1.
The city also studied the distribution of discarded cigarette butts on roads and street smoking rates by region to determine high-priority areas for the anti-smoking measures.
Based on the study results, the city plans to set up two smoking areas each at the Sennichimae shopping street and the Soemoncho-dori area in the Minami entertainment district.
The smoking rates and cigarette-butt densities were especially high in both areas.
Osaka city is expected to increase the number of enforcement officers and assistants to spot and admonish smokers from the current 85.
Raising public awareness through speakers in busy commercial zones is also being considered.
The smoking ban was part of a revised ordinance enforced by Osaka city on Jan. 27 last year to promote the municipality as a clean host of the Osaka Kansai Expo.
It was the first ordinance-designated major city to prohibit street smoking, including heated tobacco products, across the municipality.
Osaka city said it collected the 1,000-yen fine in 10,925 cases by the end of October.
Following the ban, the street smoking ratio in the city dropped by 40 percent year on year, according to the survey results.
A representative from Osaka city’s environmental bureau vowed to keep going forward.
“We will be proceeding with various strategies from now so that both smokers and nonsmokers can enjoy themselves comfortably,” the representative said.