A popular beach near Yokohama implemented a smoking policy at the start of this year’s swimming season in June. Zushi beach in Kanagawa Prefecture has banned smoking except at designated areas on its 600-meters of sand. Five smoking huts have been installed on the beach. Four standing ashtrays have also been placed in the span of sand. There is no penalty for violating the smoking rules.


Shirahama city in Wakayama Prefecture implemented smoking rules on its beach in 2008. Banners and a standing signboard notify visitors of the locations of smoking areas. There are several standing ashtrays in the sand. 

A smoking policy went into effect on the July 2 season opening of the 300-meter-long Ougigahama beach in Tanabe City, Wakayama. No-smoking signs are posted in three places, and there is a smoking area near the official beach facilities office.

Atami City in Shizuoka prefecture commenced smoking regulations at its beach in 2005. Kanagawa is the only prefecture of Japan’s 47 prefectures to have a smoking policy in effect for a beach.

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All Nippon Airways says it is the first airline in the world to offer in-flight draft beer from a keg.

A traditional beer keg uses a high-pressure carbon dioxide bottle which is prohibited by law on flights.

ANA sponsored development of a special beer keg dispenser that does not use a high-pressure gas cylinder.

The new device uses the pressure from carbon dioxide gas captured from dry ice. The dry ice also keeps the beer cool so a power-supply unit and refrigerator are not needed.

All Nippon Airways started offering this real draft beer on domestic flights for the first time on July 20.

The brand of the beer varies according to the route.

The price is JPY 1000 per 400 milliliter glass, including a dry snack.

Depending on the aircraft, 20-40 glasses of beer will be offered per flight.

Seventy-seven gropers (chikan) were arrested on Tokyo commuter trains during a crackdown by the Japan National Police Agency. During the April 15 - 21 effort, 120 officers from the NPA and the Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectural police rode train routes known to attract molesters.

Six people were caught on the Keio Line and JR Chuo Line, the highest number of all the train lines. The JR Saikyo Line, notable for frequent reports of groping, installed security cameras on some trains last year. Five people were caught on the Saikyo Line during the April crackdown. All of the perpetrators were caught in cars without security cameras.

Twenty-six of the 77 victims were high school students and fourteen people were university students. Forty of the victims were between 15 and 19 years of age. Forty-two of the arrests occurred between 7 a.m and 9 a.m.

Fifty-eight of those arrested were charged under the "public nuisances" law. Four of the perps were charged with using a hidden camera to take secret photos in the train. Three were arrested on charges of forced obscene acts in the train car, and one man was charged with indecent exposure in the car.

Eleven people were charged with taking indecent photos of passers-by on escalators and on the stairs on station premises.

Twenty-nine of the 77 had previously been caught molesting train passengers. In one incident, while an officer obtained a description of a suspect from one victim, the officer saw the suspect in the first crime grope another victim in the same car. The suspect was arrested.

The NPA will post police officers on trains to crack down on gropers who target particular victims or stalk women after they get off the train. "If you get groped on a train, please tell the nearest police officer," an NPA spokesman said.

In one groping arrest in February, a 16-year-old girl who was fondled on the JR Takasaki Line grabbed the suspect’s hand, hauled him off the train at the next station, and handed him over to police. The girl is a member of her high school judo team. The 21-year-old perpetrator was charged with public nuisance.

Chikan Densha Otoko 2 Molester Trainman game (Windows PC)

All Nippon Airways has designated one lavatory for exclusive use by women on most international flights.

Men may use the women-only toilet only when there are few female passengers and in an emergency. Men can also use the ladies-only rest room before taking off and landing before the fasten-seatbelt sign is displayed, and when there is an urgent need due to illness. An announcement about a given flight’s toilet-usage is made at the start of the flight.

A 2007 ANA online survey found women do not like using unisex lavatories because men sometimes leave the seat up. Women also expressed displeasure about waiting in line for the toilet with men after airline meals.

ANA says 70% of male passengers it surveyed say they did not mind the ladies-only washrooms, and some men approved because it means less time waiting for women to finish using the toilet. ANA said demand for a lavatory exclusively for women is especially high among passengers taking long flights.