breaking news·190505 - Japan university to hire non-smoking staff only

A university in Japan has said it will no longer hire teachers who smoke. Nagasaki University said it wants to create a healthier environment for its workers and students. The university's president Shigeru Kono said: "Our job as a university is to look after our staff. We feel we have to discourage them from smoking." Many companies have also started not recruiting smokers. Mr Kono said there would be a ban on smoking anywhere in the university by teaching and other staff from August. In addition, staff and students will be banned from taking cigarettes and lighters into any areas of the university from April 2020. Approximately eight per cent of the university's professors and teachers are smokers.


The no-smoking policy taken by Nagasaki University is part of a growing trend in Japan to ban smoking in public spaces. There are currently bans in many public places, including restaurants and bars, in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. There are many areas of Tokyo and Kyoto in which people cannot smoke on the streets. The number of people in Japan who smoke is on the decline. In 1966, 49 per cent of adults smoked, including 84 per cent of men. Last year, 18 per cent of adults smoked, including 28 per cent of men. One company in Japan is trying to get its staff to quit smoking by offering extra days off to employees who did not smoke. Several staff soon quit the habit.