Give up or pay up

Big hike in tobacco prices in Japan

On 1 October, the price of cigarettes in Japan rose by the largest-ever amount, with the cost of a packet of 20 increasing from about ¥300 to over ¥400 (£2.25 to £3) – thought this is still well below prices charged in, for example, the United Kingdom. The plan is to use the extra revenue to help to pay for rising costs of health care, and also to try to curb consumption: 37 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women smoke. This is (for men) a fall since 2000, when smoking rates were at 50 per cent.

Japan has not yet put in place a ban on smoking in public places (the health ministry has requested public buildings and offices to ban it, but more than half have not), but cigarette packets do now carry larger health warnings, and ID cards are needed to prevent children from buying cigarettes from vending machines.

Source: The Guardian, 6 October 2010.

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