The Tokyo metropolitan government's draft ordinance on an indoor smoking ban with penalties will likely prohibit smoking, in principle, in drinking and eating establishments that hire employees or allow children to enter, regardless of their size, according to sources.
The metropolitan government plans to submit the draft ordinance to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly session, which is scheduled to convene in June.
If the ordinance is enacted, more than 80 percent of drinking and eating establishments in Tokyo will be subject to the ban, which is much stricter than smoking regulations under the central government's bill to revise the Health Promotion Law.
In a bid to strengthen measures to prevent passive smoking, the Cabinet approved the bill in March. Under the bill, smoking is allowed in existing small restaurants and bars that are run mainly by individuals and have space of 100 square meters or less for customer seating. Those facilities are required to put up signs saying smoking is allowed.
On the other hand, the metropolitan government plans to ban, in principle, smoking in establishments that children can enter, even if they have a seating area that is 100 square meters or less in size. Although the draft ordinance does not regulate restaurants and bars run by individuals or families, it will likely ban smoking in those places that have employees unless they have separate smoking rooms.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
