Japan to Strengthen Indoor Smoking Regulations from Next Month... Including Restaurants as Targets

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Starting from the 1st of next month, indoor smoking regulations in Japan will be significantly strengthened. Restaurants and pubs will be included in the smoking ban, allowing smoking only inside designated smoking rooms.

According to NHK and other sources on the 30th, with the full enforcement of the revised Health Promotion Act from the 1st of next month, indoor smoking will be generally prohibited in places such as restaurants and hotels where smoking was previously allowed. These establishments are preparing measures by installing dedicated smoking rooms.

As part of preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese government revised the Health Promotion Act, initially banning indoor smoking in schools, hospitals, pharmacies, child welfare facilities, and government administrative buildings starting from July last year. From next month, this law regulating indoor smoking will be fully applied to restaurants with more than 70 locations mainly in the metropolitan area, newly opened stores, and companies.

Additionally, some large retail stores will start charging for disposable plastic bags from April, which were previously provided free of charge. This decision was made to advance the timing by three months ahead of the enforcement of the new Container and Packaging Recycling Act decree in July, which mandates charging for plastic bags to reduce plastic waste output.

With the enforcement of the new Child Abuse Prevention Act, corporal punishment by guardians will also be legally prohibited starting next month. The "Equal Pay for Equal Work" system, which eliminates wage gaps between regular and non-regular employees, will be introduced first in large companies starting next month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.