OSAKA, Apr 02 (News On Japan) –
From April 1st, a brand new regulation took impact throughout Osaka Prefecture requiring all eating places with a buyer seating space bigger than 30 sq. meters to develop into completely smoke-free indoors—until they set up a delegated smoking room. Establishments violating the rule face fines of as much as 50,000 yen, whereas clients could also be fined as much as 30,000 yen.
The transfer comes simply 12 days earlier than the beginning of the Osaka Expo and is seen as a part of broader efforts to current a cleaner, more healthy picture of the town. While authorities subsidies of as much as 3 million yen can be found for putting in smoking amenities, solely 317 of the estimated 4,000 eligible eating places have utilized thus far.
Restaurant homeowners are expressing concern. One proprietor of a yakitori restaurant close to Hankyu Osaka-Umeda Station, whose flooring space exceeds the brink, mentioned the change poses a critical risk to enterprise: “We’ve already heard from customers that they’ll stop coming if they can’t smoke. It’s not just an inconvenience—this could be a matter of survival.”
The restaurant opted to not set up a smoking room, citing house limitations. “We can’t afford to reduce our seating capacity. It would kill our customer numbers,” the proprietor defined.
Smokers are additionally reacting with frustration. Some mentioned they’d keep away from eating places that don’t enable smoking, even when the meals is superb. “If I can’t smoke there, I just won’t go,” one smoker mentioned. Others described the brand new restrictions as “painful” or “too strict.”
On the opposite hand, non-smokers have welcomed the change. “It’s great,” mentioned one patron. “I worry about secondhand smoke, so this makes it easier to go out to eat.” Another added, “I’ve been looking for non-smoking places. This makes a big difference.”
In addition to indoor bans, Osaka City has already prohibited smoking on all public streets since January. To accommodate this, the town has elevated the variety of designated smoking areas from 171 to 350. Still, some argue it isn’t sufficient.
Jun Nakamura, an affiliate professor at Kinki University, famous that indoor smoking bans mirror a world development and assist scale back well being dangers from secondhand smoke. While understanding the reasoning behind road smoking bans as a matter of city aesthetics, he emphasised the significance of stability.
“Tobacco is still widely sold, and the tax revenue is significant—about 30 billion yen just in Osaka City. If restrictions are enforced, governments must also ensure there are places for smokers to go,” Nakamura mentioned. “We need to find a compromise where both smokers and non-smokers can coexist.”
Source: MBS NEWS