Where You Can (and Can't) Smoke in Japan

Central Tokyo's 23 wards, along with Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Fukuoka, and other major cities, ban smoking while walking on the street, and it's enforced with on-the-spot fines of roughly ¥1,000–2,000. Dropping a cigarette butt carries its own separate fine. Since the 2020 Health Promotion Act, indoor smoking is banned by default nationwide except in specifically designated smoking rooms.

Look for small glass-walled smoking booths near station exits, in larger parks, and outside office buildings — they're common once you know what you're looking for, just not obvious from a distance. Some convenience stores have a small outdoor smoking corner. Both Narita and Haneda maintain smoking rooms before and after security in every terminal, so a connecting flight doesn't mean going without.

IQOS, glo, and Ploom heated tobacco products follow the exact same rules as cigarettes in Japan — same street bans, same designated rooms — even in places where they're treated differently elsewhere. Every Shinkansen has been fully non-smoking since March 2024, though major stations including Tokyo, Kyoto, Hakata, Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Sendai still keep platform-level smoking rooms for a stop between trains.