Nagasaki University in Japan will no longer hire teachers who smoke. It wants to create a healthier environment for workers and students. The university's president said: "Our job as a university is to look after our staff. We feel we have to discourage them from smoking." He said there would be no smoking anywhere in the university from August. Staff and students will be banned from taking cigarettes into any areas of the university from April 2020. About eight per cent of the university's professors and teachers are smokers.
Nagasaki University's no-smoking policy is part of a trend in Japan to end smoking in public spaces. There are more bans in restaurants and bars in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Many streets in Tokyo are now no-smoking areas. The number of smokers in Japan is falling. In 1966, 49 per cent of adults smoked. Last year, 18 per cent of adults smoked. One company in Japan is trying to get its staff to quit smoking. It is offering extra days off to workers who did not smoke. Several staff soon quit the habit.