Photo/Illutration A smoker in a smoking zone set up in front of the Lower House chamber in the Diet building in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on Jan. 28 (Kotaro Ebara)

Near a sign featuring the national anti-virus mantra of “avoid the three Cs,” smokers, including some of the rule makers, engage in close-range conversations in a confined, crowded and poorly ventilated space.

The transparent smoking booth near the entrance of the Lower House chamber in the Diet building in Tokyo remains a sanctuary for health protocol breakers despite the risk of novel coronavirus contamination.

But they may soon lose such special treatment, as some lawmakers have demanded the removal of the “smoking box.”

Takae Ito, an Upper House member of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, told the Upper House Budget Committee on Jan. 28 that the smoking booth shows “how much the Diet is out of touch with the general public.”

The central government’s panel of experts dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic has listed five scenes that pose a high infection risk.

One of them is a smoking area.

Lawmakers, staff members of political parties and news reporters often flock to the booth and pull down their masks to get their nicotine fixes. The masks are rarely put back on when they talk to each other.

“Smoking and talking without a mask at a rest area at worksites constitutes a risk of infection,” Takaji Wakita, head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, said at an Upper House Cabinet Committee meeting on Feb. 2.

However, Lower House officials said there is no problem because “there is a note posted at the entrance of the smoking zone that warns people to keep a proper distance from each other when smoking.”

The officials also noted that curtain-like partitions were placed inside the smoking zone on Feb. 2 with a note that says, “Please use alone in order to prevent infections from spreading.”

The revised Health Promotion Law that took effect in April 2020 aims to curb passive smoking in public spaces and prevent another C, cancer.

Executive branches and administrative agencies were required to follow the tightened regulations on secondhand smoke. But the smoking zone in the Diet building was allowed to stay unchanged.

The general public can take tours of the Diet building, but they are told: “Smoking is prohibited inside the building as a general rule, except at designated smoking rooms.”

Under the central government’s original proposal, all smoking would be banned in the Diet building as well as in ministries and agencies, with no exceptions.

However, the proposal was changed during a preliminary review of the bill.

“The government has forced people to telework and refrain from dining out,” Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the Democratic Party for the People, said at a news conference on Feb. 4. “We, too, have to do everything we can do. The (smoking booth) should be removed.”

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