- #Harm reduction
- #Open data
- #Free to use
About the project
Less second-hand smoke starts with knowing where to go.
Smok is a free map of the places in Japan where smoking is actually permitted: municipal smoking areas, station and airport smoking rooms, shopping-centre booths, cafés and tobacconists. We do not sell tobacco and we do not encourage anyone to smoke. The project exists for one reason. A smoker who can find a designated area does not light up on the pavement, in a doorway or next to a child, and every trip to the right place is a little less smoke for everyone else.
Why Smok exists
A project about consequences, not about smoking
Smoking will not disappear tomorrow. The harm it does to bystanders can be reduced today, by making the right place easier to find than the wrong one.
Japan already has the infrastructure. Since the 2020 amendment to the Health Promotion Act, indoor smoking has been confined to sealed rooms, and most city centres ban smoking on the street. In their place, municipalities, railways, airports and shopping centres have built thousands of designated smoking areas: enclosed, ventilated and set back from foot traffic.
The problem is that almost nobody knows where they are. Signage is sparse, the official lists are scattered across hundreds of municipal websites and PDFs, and nearly all of it is in Japanese. A visitor who cannot find a smoking area within a few minutes usually smokes wherever they happen to be standing.
Smok gathers those scattered lists into one map and adds the details that decide whether a place is usable right now: opening hours, the floor, the side of security at an airport, and whether the spot has been confirmed at all. When the designated area is the easiest option, it becomes the one people use.
Our commitments
Three principles behind the project
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Free, with no subscription
Smok is free to use and will stay that way. There is no premium tier, no paywall and no account to create. A map that only some people can afford would only move some of the smoke.
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Checked before it is published
A place reaches the map only after its data has been checked against the source it came from. Spots that have closed or were only planned, and spots that cannot be placed on a map with confidence, are held back rather than shown. Where we have not confirmed that a station or an airport has a smoking room, the map says so instead of guessing.
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Awareness before advocacy
Alongside the map we publish guides on the rules themselves: where street smoking is fined, how to use a pocket ashtray, what the indoor ban allows, how heated tobacco is treated. The aim is that people know the rules before they light up, not after a patrol officer explains them.
Data sources
Open data, gathered from across Japan
Everything on the map comes from information that is already public. We collect what municipalities, transport operators, shopping centres and businesses have published about their own premises, and bring it together in one place. The map covers the whole country, not a single city.
Official municipal pages and documents
City and ward governments publish lists and maps of their designated smoking areas. A municipal spot is listed only when an official page or document describes it, and its position has been independently confirmed.
Operators' own websites
Railway companies, airports, shopping centres, hotel and café chains and tobacconists publish where smoking is allowed on their premises. We read those pages directly and keep the link to the original, so you can check it yourself.
Public listings
Publicly available business listings are used to cross-check the first two: to confirm that a spot still exists, and to fill in what an official page leaves out, such as a roof or a bench.
The project at a glance
- Coverage
- All of Japan, 47 prefectures
- Places listed
- 93,000+ places, from municipal smoking areas to cigar shops
- Place types
- 13 kinds of place: cafés, convenience stores, stations, airports, shopping centres, municipal areas, tobacconists and more
- Sources
- Open data only: official municipal publications, operators' websites and public listings
- Cost
- Free. No subscription, no account
- Languages
- Guides and the map interface, both in ten languages
- Updates
- Each dataset is rebuilt from its source and re-checked before it is published
- Operated by
- An independent team. Smok is not affiliated with any tobacco company, retailer or government body
Accuracy
What we can promise, and what we cannot
We would rather tell you the limits of the data than let you discover them at the door. Places close, rules change, and a sign is repainted long before a website is. We keep the data as current as we can, and it is still not a guarantee.
What we do
- Check every dataset against the source it came from before it goes on the map.
- Hold back places that cannot be confirmed or placed, instead of showing them with a guess.
- Show opening hours, floors and confirmation status where the source records them, and say when a detail came from visitors rather than from the operator.
- Rebuild each dataset from its source and remove what has closed.
What we cannot
- Guarantee that a place is open, unchanged or still permitted on the day you arrive.
- Replace the sign in front of you. Local signage and staff instructions always take precedence over this map.
- Visit every place in person. Most are confirmed from published sources, not by a visit.
- Take responsibility for a fine. If the rule on the ground disagrees with the map, the rule on the ground wins.
Found a place that has closed, moved or was never there? Tell us and we will check it.
Report a correctionPublic awareness
Guides that explain the rules before you need them
The map answers where. These guides answer how and why, written for visitors and residents who want to smoke without troubling anyone else.
Pocket ashtrays in Japan
Why almost every smoker in Japan carries one, the two kinds sold, and how to use one safely.
Read the guideStreet smoking fines in Tokyo
Which wards actually collect a fine, how much it is, and why the rule changes when you cross the road.
Read the guideFinding legal smoking areas in Tokyo
How to recognise the signs and pavement markings, and which official maps and apps actually help.
Read the guideNotice
Smoking is one of the causes of lung cancer and increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and emphysema. The smoke from a cigarette also affects the people around you, especially infants, children and older people. Smok does not sell tobacco and does not encourage anyone to start smoking or to continue.
Smoking regulations and the locations of designated smoking areas may change without notice. Always follow the signage and the instructions at the place itself. Smok accepts no liability for fines or other penalties arising from the use of this information.
Smok is an independent project. It is not operated by, affiliated with or endorsed by any tobacco manufacturer, retailer, municipality or government body.
See where smoking is allowed near you
Designated smoking areas across Japan. Free, no account, nothing to install.