The changes in smoking rates among Japanese and the potentially influential factors

Background: In 1965, the smoking rate among Japanese males was 82.3% and that of females was 15.7%, which was one of the highest male smoking rates in the world. It had decreased to 40.2% in males and 12.7% in females by 2007. Especially for males, the smoking rate has dramatically decreased during past 40 years. Aim: To study the potentially influential factors for the changes in Japanese smoking rates and to clarify the points. Methods & Material: Crosscheck date including tobacco price, health policy and smoking rates from 1965 to 2005 in Japan. Results: There are some potentially influential factors in smoking rates changes. One of the biggest decreased was that the government introduced nicotine and tar content labeling on tobacco packages since 1967. The smoking rates decreased 3.0% in 1968 and increased 0.5% in 1972. The second one was the smoking-free campaign in 1974. The smoking rates decreased 2.1% in 1975. However, the smoking rates increased again 0.4% in 1978. Previously, the tobacco price had been rising 0.1 to 0.2% every few years. The biggest rise was 1.5% in 1976. Discussion & Conclusion: Compared to other countries, the government has not been very proactive with regards to tobacco control. This is one of the factors why the Japanese smoking rates are still high. Although certain results have been achieved, despite the government 's approach. The smoking rates has drastically reduced and then increased again in many cases. It is currently suggested that to raise the tobacco price up from current price about 2.6 US dollars to about ten US dollars would have a dramatic affect on the smoking rates. However, given past experiences, it is not clear that a large rise in the price of tobacco would decrease the smoking rate and tobacco control dramatically.