No smoking day

Every month on the 22nd, Japan observes No Smoking Day 禁煙の日 (kinen no hi), a day dedicated to promoting smoking cessation and raising awareness about the harms of tobacco. The anniversary was established by the Smoking Cessation Promotion Academic Network, an organization based in Chiyoda, Tokyo, where multiple medical societies collaborate to share research on smoking, cessation methods, and treatment options.

The date comes from a very clever bit of wordplay: the number 2 resembles a swan, and “swan” sounds like 吸わん (“don’t smoke”). With two twos, 22 becomes スワンスワン＝吸わん吸わん, making it the perfect monthly reminder to avoid smoking! The goal of the day is to spread accurate knowledge about tobacco’s dangers and encourage both smokers and society as a whole to move toward a smoke‑free environment.

For those who are only in Japan a few years, it might be hard to envisage it, but even ten years ago people could still smoke almost anywhere. It was only really in 2018 that they started introducing a smoking ban in public places. Until then you could still smoke in most restaurants, workplaces and public buildings. Would you believe you could still smoke on some shinkansen bullet trains until two years ago! Japan was much later than most countries to introduce smoking bans and restrictions, but they've caught up.