タバコ？何それ、という時代がいずれ来るだろうか

近所に、ランチがおいしい店があって、時々行っていたのだが、そこはタバコを吸うことができて、昼時でもその匂いがするため、最近は行っていない。

せっかくおいしい料理なのに、なんでタバコで台無しにするんだろう、と思う。そもそも、飲食店は全部禁煙対策をするように法律で決まっているのではないか、と思って調べたが、必ずしもそうではなかった。

健康増進法において飲食店は原則屋内禁煙とされていますが、以下の3つの要件すべてに該当する飲食店（既存特定飲食提供施設）については、店内の一部または全部を喫煙可能にできる経過措置があります。経過措置の適用を受ける場合は 横浜市への届出が必要です。また、経過措置の期間は定められていません。
1,2020年４月１日時点で営業している
2.資本金または出資の総額が5,000万円以下
3.店舗の客席の面積が100平方メートル以下

「既存特定飲食提供施設と喫煙目的施設」横浜市

横浜市以外でも同様だ。件の店は、多分この条件に該当するのでタバコが吸えるのだろう。
飲食業界はニコチン中毒者を手放せない。

そして、体操選手だった池谷幸雄氏によると、体操選手もタバコを手放せない。

「実は体操選手は喫煙者が多いんですよ」と意外な事実を指摘。「持久力はそこまでいらないが、精神的プレッシャーは大きい競技。大学の先輩とかでも、1種目終わるごとに吸いにいくという人もいた」と振り返った。池谷氏は「練習でもかかるプレッシャーは大きくて、それを和らげるために喫煙する選手はけっこういました」

「池谷幸雄氏「実は体操選手には喫煙者が多い」と指摘　体操界にまん延する環境も宮田に影響？」スポニチ、2024/7/19

オリンピック出場を「辞退」した体操選手の先輩たちも、ごく自然に喫煙していたかもしれない。

タバコを吸わない私としては、下の記事の意見を支持する。

重圧のかかるトップアスリートのメンタルヘルスとその管理は重要だが、タバコや飲酒によってメンタルヘルスを健全に保ち、管理できるという証拠はない。ニコチン依存になるとニコチン欠乏によるストレスがかかり、タバコを吸うとそれが解消され、あたかもプレッシャーから解放されたように感じるだけだ。
　また「たかがタバコ」で五輪出場ができなくなるのは懲罰が重すぎる、という声も多い。だが、タバコは受動喫煙という形で他者危害も生じさせる。受動喫煙による1年間の死者は1万5000人と見積もられ、これは飲酒運転による死亡数（年間、百数十人）よりずっと多い。
（中略）
なぜ「たかがタバコ」という昭和脳の発言が出てくるのだろうか。発言者をみてみると中高年の男性が多いようだ。この世代の男性喫煙率はまだ30％前後と高く、喫煙所問題にあらわれているようにタバコに関して寛容な人も少なくない。

石田雅彦「いまだ蔓延る「たかがタバコ」という「昭和脳」から「体操女子代表の五輪辞退」を考える」

２０２２年の厚生労働省の国民生活基礎調査によると、喫煙率は年ごとに下がっている。

たばこを吸う人の割合は男性で25.4%、女性で7.7%だった。3年ごとに喫煙率を調べており、男性は前回19年から3.4ポイント、女性は1.1ポイント低下。いずれも減少傾向が続いている。
健康志向の高まりや受動喫煙対策を強化した改正健康増進法の施行などが影響したとみられる。男性は01年時点で全体の48.4%とほぼ2人に1人が吸っていた。約20年が経過し4人に1人まで減ったことになる。
年代別に見ると、男性は40代が34.6%と最も高い。50代32.6%、30代29.9%と続いた。女性は50代の12.0%が最も高く、40代11.6%、30代9.0%だった。男女とも30〜50代の喫煙者が目立つものの、ほぼ全ての年代で前回19年調査に比べ減少した。

「喫煙率、男性25%・女性7%に低下」日本経済新聞,2023/8/7

体操業界は、未成年の喫煙者を罰するだけでなく、タバコ以外の、健全で違法でない、ストレスに対抗する方法を選手に提示すべきだろう。

架空の狙撃手のゴルゴ１３も、一仕事の前後にちょくちょく煙草を吸っていた。
タバコから離れられないのは、特殊な業界の人だけになっていくのかもしれない。

＜追記＞
ようやくパリオリンピックが終わり、テレビ中継でのアナウンサーや開設者の絶叫は聞かれなくなった。

未成年者の喫煙が問題になった例を思い出したので、追記しておこう。

萩本欽一氏がテレビで出ずっぱりだった頃、彼の番組のレギュラー出演者の１５歳の女子高校生が喫煙している写真が、週刊誌にスクープされた。民放テレビ局や週刊誌の業界はさかんに報道し、彼女は一時的に謹慎処分となった。
また、プロ野球のダルビッシュ有選手も入団前に喫煙したことが問題視され、卒業直前に高校から停学処分を受けた。

タイトル写真は、「タバコラッキーストライクコレクション3Dモデル」より引用

Will there come a time when people will ask, "Cigarettes? What's that?"

There is a restaurant nearby that serves delicious lunch, and I used to go there occasionally, but I haven't been there recently because they allow smoking there and the place smells of cigarettes even at lunchtime.

I wondered why they would ruin such delicious food with cigarettes. I had thought that all restaurants were required by law to take measures against smoking, but when I looked into it, I found that this was not necessarily the case.

Under the Health Promotion Act, restaurants are generally prohibited from smoking indoors, but there are transitional measures that allow restaurants (existing specific food and beverage establishments) that meet all of the following three requirements to allow smoking in part or all of the restaurant. To apply for the transitional measures, a notification must be filed with Yokohama City. There is no set period for the transitional measures.
1.Operating as of April 1, 2020
2.Total capital or investment is 50 million yen or less
3.Seat area of ​​the restaurant is 100 square meters or less

"Existing specific food and beverage establishments and smoking facilities" Yokohama City

The same is true outside Yokohama. That restaurant probably meets these conditions, which is why people can smoke there. The food and beverage industry can't let go of nicotine addicts.

And according to former gymnast Yukio Ikeya, gymnasts can't let go of cigarettes either.

"The truth is, a lot of gymnasts are smokers," he pointed out, a surprising fact. "It's a sport that doesn't require a lot of endurance, but the mental pressure is great. Even my senior at university would go for a smoke after finishing each event," Iketani recalled. "The pressure is great even during practice, and quite a few gymnasts smoke to ease that pressure."

"Iketani Yukio points out, 'In fact, there are many smokers among gymnasts.' Could the prevalent environment in the gymnastics world also have an impact on Miyata?" Sponichi, 2024/7/19

The seniors around the athlete who "declined" to participate in the Olympics may have been smoking quite naturally.

As a non-smoker, I support the opinion in the article below.

Mental health and management of top athletes under high pressure is important, but there is no evidence that smoking or drinking alcohol can keep mental health healthy or manage it. When you become addicted to nicotine, you feel stressed due to nicotine deficiency, and when you smoke, it relieves that stress and makes you feel as if you are free from pressure. Many people also say that banning someone from participating in the Olympics for "just smoking" is too severe a punishment. However, smoking also causes harm to others in the form of passive smoking. It is estimated that passive smoking causes 15,000 deaths per year, which is far more than the number of deaths from drunk driving (a hundred and several hundred per year).
(Omitted)
Why do people make such Showa-era statements as "just smoking"? Looking at the people who make these statements, it seems that most of them are middle-aged or older men. The smoking rate for men in this generation is still high at around 30%, and many of them are tolerant of cigarettes, as shown by the issue of smoking areas.

Masahiko Ishida: "Considering the "decline of the women's gymnastics team to participate in the Olympics" from the still widespread "Showa era mentality" that "it's just a cigarette"

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's 2022 Basic Survey on National Life, the smoking rate has been decreasing year by year.

The percentage of people who smoked was 25.4% for men and 7.7% for women. Smoking rates are surveyed every three years, and the rate for men dropped by 3.4 points and for women by 1.1 points from the previous survey in 2019. Both continue to decline. This is thought to be due to factors such as growing health consciousness and the implementation of the revised Health Promotion Act, which strengthened measures against passive smoking. As of 2001, 48.4% of men smoked, meaning that almost one in two people smoked. About 20 years have passed, and the number has decreased to one in four. By age group, the highest percentage of men was in their 40s at 34.6%, followed by those in their 50s at 32.6% and those in their 30s at 29.9%. For women, the highest percentage was in their 50s at 12.0%, followed by those in their 40s at 11.6% and those in their 30s at 9.0%. Although smokers in their 30s and 50s were prominent in both men and women, the percentage of smokers decreased in almost all age groups compared to the previous survey in 2019.

"Smoking rates fall to 25% for men and 7% for women" Nihon Keizai Shimbun, August 7, 2023

The gymnastics industry should not only punish smokers, but also provide athletes with healthy, legal ways to cope with stress.

The fictional sniper Golgo 13 also frequently underage smokes before and after a job. It may be that only people in special industries are becoming fond of cigarettes.

<Addendum>
The Paris Olympics are finally over, and the screams of announcers and commentators on TV coverage have quieted down.

I remember examples of underage smoking becoming a problem, so I'll add them here. When Kinichi Hagimoto was constantly on TV, a weekly magazine scooped a photo of a 15-year-old high school girl who was a regular guest on his show smoking. Commercial TV stations and the weekly magazine industry gave it a lot of coverage, and she was temporarily suspended.
Professional baseball player Yu Darvish was also suspended from high school just before graduation after his smoking habit before joining a team was called into question.

The title photo is taken from "Cigarette Lucky Strike Collection 3D Model"