Smoking in Japan

Alaska and I went to see David Sedaris last night at the University at Buffalo (my alma mater). I’m not a huge fan of Sedaris – I find his folksy style somewhat irritating – but he was quite entertaining last night, and now I’m halfway through his bestseller Me Talk Pretty One Day (which he graciously signed for us).

Near the end of the talk, he mentioned that he had just returned from Japan. Sedaris is a smoker, God bless him, and he said that in many areas of Japan, smoking outdoors is restricted to certain areas. Posted around these smoking areas are signs encouraging proper smoking etiquette, including this little gem:

Here is a site with about 45 more of these odd little signs. Don't worry about the funny squiggly lines everywhere; that's how people over there write.