The Japanese Finance Ministry plans to expand the size of health warnings on cigarette packs, according to a story in The Japan Times quoting ‘sources with knowledge of the matter’.
The Ministry reportedly plans to implement the change before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
The move was said to be designed to increase people’s awareness of the health hazards related to smoking.
And it was said, without explanation, that the move ‘takes into consideration visitors to Japan’.
Currently, cigarette manufacturers are obliged to display health warnings on both the front and the back of cigarette packages, covering 30 percent or more of each surface.
But the Ministry plans to increase the coverage to 50 percent or more.
And it plans also to make the health warnings easier to comprehend by adding extra information, such as that relating to recent medical findings.
Meanwhile, the Ministry intends to create a new mandatory warning for heat-not-burn tobacco products.
Visitor warnings
