Will Japan’s Cigarette Vending Machines Soon Fade Away?

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You don’t see them everywhere but they’re still around. Japan is still home to a large number of cigarette vending machines. But they’re dwindling quickly – and the end of Japan’s “tobacco pass” could further hasten their demise.

The death of smoking in Japan?

No smoking sign in Shinjuku — A sign in Nishishinjuku that forbids outdoor smoking. (Photo by the author)

Once upon a time, smoking was all the rage in Japan – particularly among men. According to the site Health Net, smoking among men reached its peak in 1966 (Showa 41), with 83.7% of men proudly confessing to the habit. By contrast, only around 15% of women smoked.

How times have changed. By 2018, only 27.8% of men still smoked. Smoking among women was down to a low 8%. Among 20-year-olds, those numbers are even lower – 23.3% and 6.6%, respectively.

What changed? Surely, greater awareness of smoking’s ill effects helped spur people to quit. But public policy also plays a role. In Tokyo, indoor smoking at coffee shops and cafes used to be the norm. However, as of April 1st, 2020, most shops must be tobacco-free. A facility can choose to designate a specially cordoned room for smoking. Only a handful of smaller shops can offer facility-wide smoking.

You also won’t (or shouldn’t) see any smoking on Tokyo’s streets. Outdoor smoking is forbidden except in specially designated locations. It’s all part of the city’s overall effort to reduce cancer risk from second-hand tobacco smoke.

The dwindling cigarette vending machine

As Japan’s smoking habit dwindles, so does another cultural phenomenon: the public cigarette vending machine.

Cigarette vending machines are a global phenomenon. However, not every country allows them in public. In the United States, for example, they’re banned except in facilities restricted to people age 18 or over (the legal age at which one can begin smoking).

In Japan, you may still spot a vending machine out in public. However, you’re not as likely to as you once were.

In general, vending machine numbers in Japan are on the decline. This mirrors the country’s general population decline. But drink, food, and other vending machines haven’t dropped nearly as precipitously as cigarette vending machines have. In 2012, there were over 300,000 machines in the country. Today, that number stands at around 116,000 – almost a third of the total from 10 years ago.

The end of the “tobacco pass”

TASPO pass enabled cigarette vending machine — This decrepit-looking TASPO pass affixed to a tobacco vending machine gives you an idea of how old the system is. (Picture by the author)

So what prevents minors from buying cigarettes from a public vending machine? The answer, up until now, has been taspo. But that’s all about to change.

Introduced in 2008, taspo (タスポ) is an Integrated Circuit (IC) card like the Suica or PASMO subway cards. It has one single purpose: verifying that its holder is 20 years of age or older. Developed by three organizations – the Tobacco Institute of Japan, the Tobacco Vending Machine Owners Association, and the Japan Vending Machine Association – taspo addressed social concerns around minors surreptitiously buying smokes from public machines.

But taspo isn’t long for this world. It’s built on Docomo’s FOMA, the company’s original 3G cellular data network. Docomo is officially retiring FOMA in 2026. Rather than update the system to work with current cellular technology, taspo has announced that its service will also end on April 1st, 2026.

So what happens to tobacco vending machines after that? Well, remember that taspo came of age before everything had an RFID chip. Vending machine makers who want to update their machines can fit them with devices that read either a user’s driver’s license or their My Number card.

The other option? Obsolete them altogether. One vending machine manufacturer found a clever way to play off of the obsolesence theme recently. A machine outside of Agri Colleto in the city of Kochi is selling “Chabacco”, a product that looks all the world like cigarette packs on the outside but actually contains green tea.

You can argue about the propriety of a product that, like the candy cigarettes of yore, looks like tobacco. On the other hand, at least green tea is actually good for your health.