3 books on antismoking

In these decades, the situation of smoking  has radically changed in Japan.  Here is the data of smokers in Japan:

• 1965: male 82, female 16 (%)
• 1975: male 76, female 15
• 1985: male 65, female 14
• 1995: male 59, female 15
• 2005: male 46, female 14
• 2015: male 31, female 9

In the 1980’s,  it was so common to smoke in a car, even if there was a child.  If you watch old Japanese movies, you could find guys are smoking anytime and anywhere. Now, smokers are impounded in small and  usually shabby cages  named “smoking space.”

Considering The Right for Non-smokers by Isayama Yoshiro was published in 1983, when the right was not publicly recognized in Japan.  In this book, the author should have explained “passive smoking” as an unknown concept.

The Sociology of Cigarettes, published in 1992, is a Japanese translation of  a Cigarettes by Ronald Troyer and Gerald Markle.  In the postscript, the translators point out several common features between America and Japan as follows: (1) Female smokers had been stigmatized. (2)  The military systems had provided legitimacy for smoking with utilizing cigarettes  as a prize.  (3)  Medical claims had  served to restrict smoking in public spaces. (4) But, at the same time, the sales of cigarettes was increasing at that time.

 The Ecology of Passive Smoking by Murata Yohei is a more recent book published  in 2012.  The author pays attention to the fact that there is a large gender difference of smoking behavior in Japan, and criticizes advertisements for cigarette in the Goffmanian way.

In Japan, cigarette and tea have been the traditional means for relaxing in daytime.  For example, there is a local folk term “do tobacco[tabako suru],”  which means taking a work time.  One of the two main means for break is almost purged by medical interpretation now.

[Data source]

Japan Health Promotion & Fitness Foundation <http://www.health-net.or.jp/tobacco/product/pd090000.html>

[Citation]

伊佐山芳郎『嫌煙権を考える』（岩波新書、1983年）

Ｒ．トロイヤー、G．マークル『タバコの社会学』（中河伸俊・鮎川潤訳、世界思想社、1992年）

村田洋平『受動喫煙の環境学』（世界思想社、2012年）

［E0010/170922］