Many die hard Seiko watch fans in America were introduced to the brand during military service abroad. In the 1970s, US military personnel were stationed in American bases in Japan, and traveled through the country enroute to tours in the Vietnam war.

The picture in the Seiko advertisement above is from a 1971 tourism brochure for Nikko Shrine in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. With Brylcreem in his hair, cigarette pack in the pocket of his flannel shirt, fishing pole in one hand and cigarette stub in the other, the model wearing a ’70s Seiko caliber 6139 automatic chronograph in this ad is from a bygone era.

Smoking has been always been popular in Japan. In centuries past, Japanese smoked American’s first export, tobacco, in small pipes called kiseru. Even commoners smoked, but prominent members of Japanese society carried their blends in special tobacco pouches and had elaborate pipes made of ivory. Many kiseru came with special caddies that held the tobacco and an ashtray. Click here for examples.

Modern kiseru | Photo: Wikipedia

Today, smoking in Japan does not carry the stigma it does in America. One reason is Japanese government majority ownership of the tobacco industry. Another is rooted deep in Japanese culture. Criticizing others, at least publicly, goes against the grain of a group-oriented culture that values harmony—instilled in Japanese from birth. It’s not an uncommon scenario for an inconsiderate smoker in Japan to light up in a non-smoking area, and although those around him may be offended, nobody says a word.

How likely is such a scene in North America?

Carved relief from Nikko Shrine

A tourism website, Japan-Guide.com, puts it this way:

The anti-smoking hysteria has not arrived in Japan yet, and smoking is still relatively popular. The smoking rate among adult men is almost 50%, while for women it is below 15%. The law prohibits the smoking of cigarettes to persons under the age of twenty. Cigarettes can be bought in tabacco stores and at vending machines.

If you are a sensitive person concerning smoke, you may have a hard time in some situations in Japan. Non-smoking areas are not very common in restaurants and public areas, not even in fast food or family restaurants. Furthermore, you won’t be able to enjoy pachinko, since the parlors are extremely smoky places. On the other hand, all trains have non-smoking cars.

Nearly 30 million people in Japan smoke. That’s amazing considering Japan has only 127 million people, including kids.¹ But things are changing.

Photo: Risingsunofnippon.com

Eight years ago, Dr. Kazuo Inoue wrote of smoking in Japan:

Smoking among Japanese teenagers is also a serious concern. Although Japan prohibits smoking until the age of 20, this legislation is mostly ineffective, as tobacco is readily available to teenagers through vending machines and convenience stores.²

That’s still true, but not for long. In the land of the vending machine, Japan, there are cigarette vending machines, and beer vending machines too, on street corners in every town and city. They are as common as Coke or Pepsi machines in the US.

Photo: Engadget.com

From 2008, smokers who buy cigarettes from vending machines in Japan will need an RFID-embedded age-verification card. Things may change more slowly in Japan than in the US, but they do change. With “a little dab’ll do ya” in his hair and cigarette in his hand, the Archie Bunker lookalike in the 1971 Seiko Japan ad is a reminder to Americans that time marches on.

The full ad is presented below.

Notes

1. Risingsunofnippon.com, January, 2007
2. Kazuo Inoue, nature.com, 1999.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Seiko. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.