Maybe 20 years ago, not so much today. There are a few places around town and a few indoor restaurants where public smoking is still permitted, but this is no longer true in most public spaces. Not on train platforms, not indoors in the vast majority of public spaces, it's just not that common and the number of smokers in Japan has significantly diminished over the last several decades.

There are 'smoking boxes' on some train platforms, but I rarely see those in use by more than a few people out of the several hundred who may be waiting. Marijuana is also 'highly' illegal but also not exactly hard to find for people who are 'hip' and it's also not aggressively enforced, much like speeding.

Also, Japan doesn't actually have a 'colonial history' having never been colonized by another nation.

I'm thinking you have just heard about Japan by rough description?

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stryan 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Also, Japan doesn't actually have a 'colonial history' having never been colonized by another nation.

It was never colonized but I've often heard it talked about in a similar way due to the effects of the Commodore Perry and the post WWII occupation (i.e. see their infamous pornography laws), as well as neighboring affects from China's colonial history.

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naishoya 3 hours ago | parent [-]

The infamous 'anti-pornography laws' actually predate Perry by a significant period of time. Those were a Tokugawa era law originally. Post WWII occupation has had very little actual impact on Japanese culture, no matter how impactful the occupiers think they were.

	▲	sampullman 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It's the first time I've seen this put forward, I thought the effects of occupation were obvious and undeniable. To me at least there is a clear influence in art/music/cinema, technology, and food. Though over time, it fuses to the point of being its own thing.

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makingstuffs 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah I was going to say I don’t remember seeing smokers anywhere other than the ‘box of shame’