Fewer Japanese are lighting up as the country tightens regulations on public smoking and health awareness among adults increases, according to a survey by Japan Tobacco Inc.
About 41.3 percent of Japanese men said they smoked, while 12.4 percent of women admitted to lighting up, with the country's overall smoking rate at 26.3 percent, according to an annual survey by Japan Tobacco released Wednesday.
In 2005, the rate for male smokers was 45.8 percent, for women it was 13.8 percent, and the overall smoking rate was 29.2 percent.
However, the tobacco company cautioned against directly comparing the two years' results, as it had changed its method and number of samples for this year's survey.
In past surveys, JT officials collected responses directly from participants.
This year, the company asked participants age 20 and older to send their replies by mail. JT also doubled the number of people questioned from 16,000 to 32,000, getting replies from 18,595 during the month of August, the company said.
Despite the change in survey methods, JT said the number of smokers was falling amid growing public awareness about health and tighter regulations on smoking in public places.
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