Japanese yen for smoking tested by 33% cigarette price rise

Tobacco tax rises to pay mounting health bill in Japan, where smoking kills 130,000 a year
People smoke cigarettes in Tokyo
Office workers puff away at a smoking area in Tokyo. Smokers in Japan suffered a record tobacco price increase on 1 October. Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP

"Are you going to stock up or give up?" The sign in a Tokyo convenience store summed up the options facing Japan's smokers as they faced a dramatic rise in cigarette prices and growing intolerance of their habit.

Behind the sign lay stacks of cartons of 200 cigarettes, ready to be sold to smokers before the average price of a packet of 20 rose from about 300 yen to more than ¥400 (£2.25 to £3). But that chance to stock up is now gone, after prices rose on 1 October.

The biggest ever increase in the tax on Japan's cigarettes is designed to raise extra revenue to pay for rising healthcare costs in a rapidly ageing society, but is also an indication that Japan is attempting to shed its image as a haven for nicotine addicts.

Although consumption has fallen every year since 1999, Japan still has one of the highest smoking rates in the industrialised world.

Even after this big increase, prices are well below those charged in Britain.

The smoking rate among men is 37% compared with 50% a decade ago, while among women it is 9%, according to government data.

"The aim is to encourage smokers to quit," Kosuke Kato, a health ministry official, told Associated Press. "We hope the price increase will discourage smokers from buying cigarettes and eventually help them quit smoking."

The prospect of paying an extra ¥100 yen or more per packet sent droves of smokers into stores in the days before the tax increased. Most bought a few extra cartons to see them through the first month; one man in Tokyo reportedly spent ¥300,000 on 100 cartons.

Kyoko Suwa, a Tokyo waitress, bought 1,000 of her beloved menthol brand late last month.

"I have to admit, I've smoked them all," she said during a cigarette break at work. "I think I can put up with paying more – but no more than this – and I've never seriously considered giving up.

"We're always being reminded of the rights of passive smokers, but the rights of smokers don't seem to count for anything these days."

While health campaigners welcomed the price rise, they say Japan still lags behind other countries in tackling nicotine addiction and the dangers of passive smoking.

Smoking is banned on many Tokyo streets and in taxis, but is still permitted in most bars, restaurants and cafes. The health ministry has asked public buildings and offices to ban smoking but more than half have yet to establish a smoke-free policy.

Yet there are signs that attitudes are hardening in a country where smoking-related diseases kill 130,000 every year.

Cigarette packets now carry bigger health warnings and ID cards have been introduced to prevent minors from buying tobacco from vending machines.

Kanagawa prefecture recently became the first region to prohibit lighting up in schools, hospitals and other public buildings.

Japan Tobacco, the world's third-biggest tobacco firm, said it expected sales to fall dramatically after the rush to stock up.

"Most people will buy a month's supply and then sales will start to fall again," a JT spokesman said, adding that the firm had forecast a 25% drop in sales over the year starting from October. "We're against the tax increase, but the government has made up its mind and there's nothing we can do."

Critics say Japan's failure to push prices even higher, or to introduce blanket smoking bans, stems from the government's 50.2% stake in Japan Tobacco, from which it receives about ¥1 trillion in tax revenue a year.

While one survey found that 58% of smokers said they would give up because of the price rise, Bungaku Watanabe of the tobacco problem information entre in Tokyo says cigarettes should cost at least ¥1,000 a packet.

"I don't think this price hike will prompt many people to give up," he said. "They'll just save on food and drink so they can afford cigarettes. The real problem is state involvement in Japan Tobacco.

"Tobacco policy is drawn up for the benefit of the finance ministry, as a revenue raiser, not as a public health issue. No other country in the world does that."