I'll remind you that this is basically the same attitude that you saw in the entire West up until about ten years ago before smokers became Worse Than Hitler and people stopped caring if they lived in a Nanny State.
Except that most of the facilities are completely inadequate, and you know, when I'm sitting in a non-smoking area and the smoking area is just the table next to me, with no separation whatsoever, well we have a problem. And even when they are vaguely separated, it's through a thin half-sized wall which does not prevent the smoke from moving around. It's THAT ridiculous.
> I'll remind you that this is basically the same attitude that you saw in the entire West up until about ten years ago before smokers became Worse Than Hitler and people stopped caring if they lived in a Nanny State.
Maybe, but in Japan there's no sign of smokers being ostracized at all. They are perfectly tolerated and I don't see many people complaining about them. That's part of the problem.
See second point i.e. "well you're also totally free to not go to that restaurant, you know?"
>That's part of the problem.
I don't think that it is. I don't smoke (aside from the very occasional cigar), but I certainly don't need to ostracize smokers either, and unless they are smoking in a place where it is explicitly forbidden, I don't need to complain about them either.
Yeah, sounds fair and reasonable.
Interesting comparison, given that Hitler was an ardent non-smoker and the Nazis instituted one of the first public anti-tobacco campaigns:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tobacco_movement_in_Nazi_G...
So, yeah, Japan, people, politeness, respect, etc... well yeah, it kind of works, but in many situations it's sub-standard.