A According to a 1994 survey by the Japan Tobacco Inc., 59% of adult men and 14.8% of adult women smoked making an overall of 36.2% of adults who smoked.

The warning printed on cigarette packages, "Cigarette smoking is harmful to your health; please refrain from excessive smoking" was issued in Japan in 1972.

Recently, no-smoking sections have increased in airplanes, trains and restaurants in Japan. There is also an increase of companies that prohibit smoking on the office premises. However, unlike in the United States where TV cigarette commercials are banned, cigarette commercials are still openly shown in Japan. It has only been 11 years
since tobacco production came under private management from being a state owned monopoly.

Tobacco companies are still one of the top-rated companies in Japan, evidence that smoking is still socially accepted. Because the Japanese try to avoid personal attacks and to hold a person responsible, someone who is bothered by cigarette smoke finds it difficult to confront a smoker to ask him or her to stop smoking.

To survive, the tobacco industry which has been backed into a corner has announced a low-tar brand of cigarette to hold their market share. Perhaps this is what led to a I% increase of women smokers compared to the previous year as opposed to a three-year consecutive decrease of