With Japan’s revised health promotion law, which includes enhanced measures against secondhand smoke, set to partially take effect at the beginning of July, universities across the country are divided over rules governing smoking.
The partial implementation prohibits smoking in principle at the premises of public facilities, including schools, nurseries and hospitals.
After the law fully goes into effect next April, smoking will be banned in principle also at business offices and some restaurants, and on passenger planes, buses and in taxis.
Oita Prefecture’s Oita University fully introduced a smoking ban in April 2011. During medical examinations that are held during the spring, each student who smokes holds a one-on-one meeting with a doctor, and nicotine patches or support from nurses is given to them if needed to help them quit smoking.
As a result, the smoking rate among students who attend classes at the university’s campuses in the city of Oita dropped to 3.7 percent in 2019 from 7 percent in 2013.
