No Smorking

Posted on June 15, 2007 by gaijinalisa

My boss's favorite soba shop has gone smoke-free during lunch hour, a sign of the times if ever I've heard one. Although women are generally thought to be the preservers of traditional culture in most societies, it's men in Japan who seem to be intent on keeping food culture intact. While office ladies may while away their lunch hours eating pasta or organic salads, the salarymen are down the dark alleys munching on tonkatsu or slurping their soba. I've even heard soba referred to as food for "oyaji"- or old men. And the atmosphere of the soba shops usually reflects this- they are usually smoky dens of middle aged men with their ties folded up and tucked into their shirt pockets. The very idea that the venerated haven of havens should go kinen is a complete, albeit welcome, shock.

Many fast food chains are already smoke free, and most cafes and restaurants that cater at least in part to women or families are no-smoking during lunch hours. The Shinkansen just got rid of their smoking cars this May, although the way those things were it will take a decade just to get the smell out of the seats.

But Big Tobacco has got their claws in Japan pretty damn deep, and things we would consider basic now in America, like getting rid of the vending machines, are a long time coming. Mostly, I can't even fathom the dumbfounded reaction if someone suggested making a restaurant used for "settai", or business entertainment, smokeless. Japanese business dinners revolve around many things and have many sets of rules, but one essential point is the complete lack of any sort of restriction. The person setting up the affair will likely reject a restaurant that won't give them a private room for their party, because making sure the person you're "entertaining" can eat and drink as much as he pleases, say whatever he pleases, and smoke as much as he wants without any worry of offending or disturbing others is absolutely standard. Settai without cigarettes would be like settai without Sake- completely missing the point.

I for one, am about as anti-smoking as it gets, and I'm pretty damn sick of breathing it into my lungs when I'm rushing to work, studying in a cafe, or trying to enjoy my dinner. But just a warning to all potential activists trying to break their way in here- they've come a long way, baby, but they've got an even longer way to go.