Japan wants only 12 per cent smoking

Japan’s Health Ministry wants the incidence of smoking in Japan reduced to 12 per cent by 2022, according to a Japan Daily Press story.

Currently 19.5 per cent of Japanese people smoke, down from 27.7 per cent in 2000, but the proportion of smokers among men aged 30 to 40 is about 40 per cent.

Hiroyuki Noda, the ministry’s tobacco free initiative officer, said recently that his organization had started a scheme to try to support those who wished to quit smoking.

The ministry had started initiatives such as offering free counseling via telephone and treating nicotine addiction under the government’s health insurance program.