Mother who lent Japan's new smoking "smart card" to teenage son

Some people are viewing the need to get the card as a chance to quit smoking, according to Sankei newspaper, which dubbed it "taspo shock."

Japan's smoking population, now estimated at 26 million, has been dropping every year for the past nine years. The number of cigarette vending machines has also been declining, plunging about 29 percent from as many as 616,000 in 2005.


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