Smoke gets in your eyes - Blowfish

Japan, Inc., Jan, 2003

The number of Japanese adult males who smoke fell to 49.1 percent, the first time the figure has fallen below the halfway point since the former Japan Tobacco Monopoly (now called JT) began conducting its survey in 1965. The figure for males was down 2.9 percent from 2001, attributed mainly to a decline in older smokers, whose reliance on nicotine tapers off sharply past age 60.

The percentage of male smokers above this age was just 34.5 percent. The rate for females, 14.0 percent, declined by 0.7 percentage points. The peak year for puffers of both genders was back in 1966, when 83.7 percent of males and 18.0 percent of females smoked.