Smoking ban foreshadowed

The restaurant chain operator Skylark Holdings said on Tuesday that it would impose a tobacco smoking ban at all of its outlets in Japan from September, according to a story in The Japan Times.

A Skylark Holdings official was quoted as saying that the group, which is thought to have about 3,200 outlets and which operates the Jonathan’s and Gusto chains, “wants to prevent undesirable passive smoking, and cares about the health of customers and some 100,000 employees”.

Currently, many Skylark group restaurants have smoking areas that are separated from non-smoking areas, but these are to be removed.