How Japanese Smokers Quit Cigarettes?

How Japanese Smokers Quit Cigarettes?

This is something unique to share for you to read. How Japanese Smokers Quit Cigarettes? I noticed the trend as I traveled to Japan from 2012 to 2019 and when I did the research, I realized that many Japanese smokers quit cigarettes.

In 2021, I was amazed at how disciplined Japanese smokers were as they smoke at designated places and zones in the public area. As the years passed, I noticed the decline of Japanese smokers as they quit cigarettes and switch to smoke-free alternatives such as heated tobacco products (HTPs).

The reason why Japanese smokers quit cigarettes is mainly due to health. We all know cigarettes are harmful to our bodies. The perception is cigarette tar and nicotine did the most damage. However, that is not 100% accurate.

Cigarette tar is actually not a substance at all and it is not the same substance used to make roads. It is a term to describe the machine-based weight measurement of total particulate matter in cigarette smoke minus water and nicotine.

Nicotine on the other hand occurs naturally in tobacco. It has effects like increased heart rate and blood pressure. Thus, nicotine is addictive and not risk-free but it is not the primary cause of smoking-related disease.

The main problem of cigarettes is the burning of cigarettes. Do you know that when a cigarette is lit it burns tobacco at temperatures of up to 900°C?

This burning process is known as ‘combustion’. The high temperature of combustion generates the vast numbers and high levels of harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke.

For a safer options, Japanese smokers are switching to heated tobacco products which are a less harmful option.

This is because HTP  does not require any burning process and does not release any harmful smoke. This means that the average levels of harmful chemicals generated by a HTP can be significantly low compared with combustible cigarettes.

The heat-not-burn technology (HNB) adopted by HTP is able to offer a similar experience to smokers who can’t or do not want to quit smoking a less harmful alternative that is not only able to help smokers to reduce harm but also able to avoid their loved ones from exposing to cigarettes smoke or second-hand smoke.

Thus, this is how Japanese smokers quit cigarettes and are willing to switch to smoke-free alternatives such as HTP. On top of that, I realized that my friends also quit cigarettes for HTP in Malaysia.

This is not just a Japanese trend but an ongoing worldwide trend for smokers who do not want to quit smoking to have a better lifestyle. Please take note that IQOS still offer health risk but is way lesser than cigarettes.

This is why on my last trip to Japan in 2019, I spotted less cigarette smokers but more HTP users. This is the reason why many Japanese smokers successfully quit cigarettes.

References:

• https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Philip-Morris-aims-to-end-its-Japan-cigarettes-sales-within-10-years
• https://www.reuters.com/article/japan-tobacco-results-idUSL3N1KH31E
• https://www.nippon.com/en/features/jg00085/
• https://www.pmi.com/smoke-free-life/substantially-declining-cigarette-sales-in-japan
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29912406/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5334756/

WILSON NG

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