Osaka, Nov. 4 (Jiji Press)–Cigarette littering shows no sign of abating in Minami, the bustling entertainment district in Osaka, western Japan, where restaurant-lined streets are crowded with tourists and young people. Despite a citywide ban on smoking on streets, a deadly fire believed to have been caused by a discarded cigarette butt broke out in the district last year. The city government and private groups are now working to set up more designated smoking areas. Worst among Major Cities Early one drizzly morning in mid-September, a sanitation worker was picking up cigarette litter on Ebisubashi Bridge, in the heart of the Dotonbori area. Clumps of butts lay scattered across the pavement, along with empty cigarette packs and plastic bags. The 36-year-old man, hired by the Osaka city government, has cleaned the area around the bridge almost every morning since April. “The litter just doesn’t go away,” he said with a sigh. “We find a lot of cigarette butts in places such as alleys, where people are less likely to notice.” The number of discarded cigarette butts in Minami is on an entirely different scale from that in Kita, a major office and commercial district in the city around Umeda Station, and stands out even by national standards. In June 2025, the Osaka prefectural restaurant sanitation association counted cigarette butts on the streets at six locations in major cities over a set period. Minami had the most, at 4,284. That was more than seven times the 589 found around Susukino, the main entertainment district of Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture. Smoking on streets has been banned throughout the city of Osaka since January last year, and violators can be fined. Even so, the number of discarded butts remains high. In August last year, a fire along the Dotonbori River burned down two buildings and killed two firefighters. It is believed to have started when a cigarette thrown into a trash-strewn outdoor gutter set the trash alight. Minoru Nakamura, secretary-general of the association, said littering and street smoking persist because of “a shortage of smoking areas.” In April last year, Osaka Prefecture tightened its smoking rules. Restaurants with more than 30 square meters of seating space must now, in principle, ban smoking indoors. With smokers effectively pushed out of the restaurants and bars where they once took their breaks, more of them are lighting up on the street. As a last resort, some establishments let customers smoke under their eaves or in similar spots outside. “Things have gotten strange,” Nakamura said, looking puzzled. Designated Smoking Areas Since the citywide street smoking ban took effect in January last year, the Osaka city government has set up about 350 free designated smoking areas, both inside stores and outdoors. About 50 of them are in Minami, and the city plans to create 12 more there by the end of the current fiscal year in March. The city has also stepped up enforcement. It now has 108 staff patrolling for street smokers, about six times as many as three years ago. Local private groups are also setting up smoking areas. In January this year, the Osaka Confederation of Shopping Arcade Councils, made up of shopping arcades in the city, started a program that helps member arcades pay to install and maintain smoking areas. So far, 70 smoking areas have been installed in 20 shopping arcades, including ones in Minami and in Nishi and Ikuno wards. A survey by the confederation found that the number of discarded cigarette butts around the Americamura area in Minami fell by half after smoking areas were installed. Littering also went down in the other areas surveyed. “Many shopping arcades are struggling to deal with litter and cigarette butts, and the risk of fire in particular is an urgent problem,” a confederation official said. The official urged the city government to “place smoking areas over a wide area, not just in front of train stations.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
