The tobacco tax was raised by ¥3.5 per cigarette on Oct. 1, raising the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by ¥110-¥140 to ¥410-¥440. This record tobacco price hike means ¥40,000 more spending a year for a person who smokes one pack a day. But this offers a good chance to quit smoking for smokers who can't seem to make up his or her mind.
When the Liberal Democratic Party was in power, the tobacco tax had been raised every three to five years by less than ¥1 per cigarette since 1998. The Democratic Party of Japan, which came to power in September 2009, opted for a steep raise from the viewpoint of protecting people's lives. Smoking is the biggest cause of death that can be prevented; it is estimated that more than 5.3 million people die annually worldwide — more than 130,000 in Japan. The number of people suffering from tobacco-linked cancer and lung disease is much larger.
According to Japan Tobacco, the percentage of smokers is 36.6 percent for men, down 2.3 points from 2009, and 12.1 percent for women, up 0.2 point. Some 11,000 hospitals and clinics across the nation offer treatment to stop reliance on nicotine. The cost for the treatment is said to be about half the cost for smoking.