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The story
A thread asking for and against a total cigarette ban took off on 5ch’s “Nanimo Jikkyo G” board. First came a flame war over the reliability of the poll cited at the top — “68 in favor (88.3%)” — with posters trading accusations about dubious methodology and sourcing versus others defending the numbers. The discussion then moved to the real question: if a majority supports a ban, why hasn’t it happened? Posters raised one reason after another for why outright prohibition hasn’t happened — tobacco tax revenue, comparisons with alcohol, the possibility of shifting to e-cigarettes, and the problem of littered cigarette butts.
What people said
On a total cigarette ban:
1: In favor — 68 votes (88.3%)
Why'd you lie?
That's because it's become a 'society that doesn't' (do it).
That's not what I meant
From a 'will/won't' standpoint, it's 'won't'
From a 'can/can't' standpoint, it's 'can't'
That's the point being made
Re: #3 was broken from the start
Why did this turn into a flame war
You're right though
Though as a non-smoker, I'm totally fine with a ban.
Is that the same reason Japanese people get a bad image abroad?
There's a limit to how much you can raise the alcohol tax
Because moonshine is relatively easy to make, people can just opt out of buying it
In terms of pure health damage, alcohol is like 10x worse for your body than cigarettes, but nobody's calling for alcohol to be banned.
Alcohol has way too many stakeholders
Also, alcohol tax revenue is actually bigger
Is it really not being called for that much?
And I'd think just shifting to e-cigarettes would be a big deal too
Well, that's because it's a social harm
Are you trying to advertise that you're antisocial by nature?
Not many people know this, but cars dump exhaust into the air too
And AC units drain their condensate onto the road too…
We're talking about cigarette butts here, though?
Eh, that's fine though
The annoying part is nobody really knows what it's being used for, so it's unclear who actually gets hurt
Background and Key Points of This Debate
It’s worth noting that the “88.3% in favor” figure cited at the top of the thread is an unofficial tally from within 5ch itself, not a nationwide public opinion poll. In reality, Japan has strengthened passive-smoking measures through the revised Health Promotion Act (enacted 2020), but no policy to ban the sale of cigarettes outright is currently on the table. One reason for this is the existence of tobacco tax as a stable source of revenue — nationally and locally combined, it reportedly brings in roughly 1 trillion yen a year, and how to replace that revenue became one of the thread’s talking points. Posters also debated, in parallel, why there’s no similar push to ban alcohol despite its health risks, whether a shift to e-cigarettes might ease these problems, and etiquette issues like littered cigarette butts — though no clear conclusion was reached. Since the latter half of the original thread was dominated by a long back-and-forth over the reliability of the poll numbers, this article focuses mainly on the portion of the debate concerning smoking bans and separation of smoking areas.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanimo Jikkyo G) thread “90% of Japanese People Support Banning Cigarettes! So Why Can’t It Happen?“.
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