1. Police officers in Hyogo prefecture taking an extended breaks for mental problems have increased 3.5 times over the past 10 years. Out of 13,000 prefectural officers, 49 took a leave of absence longer than a month in 2008.
2. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China now holds the position of the world's second greatest military expenditures with 85.9 billion dollars in 2008. Of course China trails far behind the US with its staggering 603.7 billion greenbacks.
3. Kanagawa prefecture released a copy of the non-smoking ordinances that will come into effect April 2010. The ordinances are the first in Japan to be aimed at reducing the effects of second-hand smoke. (This is from a country that sometimes offers a non-smoking section...and when they usually do, it's a foot away from someone smoking...)
i. Complete smoking ban: prefectural offices, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, pharmacies, movie theatres, public baths, department stores, banks, libraries, old folk homes, the inside portion of zoos and gardens....etc.
ii. Choice of complete non smoking or placing designated smoking areas clearly separated: restaurants, hotels, inns, arcade centres, karaoke boxes, barbers, salons, beauty salons, etc.
ii. Must put in clearly marked separated smoking/non-smoking areas: small scale restaurants/cafés(smaller than 100 square metres), hotels or inns smaller than 700 square metres, sketchy places (I don't know a great translation for fuzoku) such as pachinko parlours, massage parlours, mahjong halls, carabets etc.
The article goes on to say that the rest of the Japan will be studying the effectiveness of the measures to lower the harm of second-hand smoke. Japan definitely has gotten less and less smoky since I have been here, but this is the first big law I have really heard about. Usually they pass more inane laws like you can't smoke on the street while you are walking. But it's still ok to smoke if you stand still next to a giant ashtray.
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