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Shinbashi Station joins anti-smoking crusade 

Smokers in Tokyo are finding less open-air spaces to take a puff after Minato Ward launched a ban on outdoor smoking around busy Shinbashi Station.

Under a new policy ward officials call "Minato Tobacco Rules," they want smokers to stop smoking outdoors and discarding their cigarette butts, although no penalties will be imposed on those who don't cooperate.

Smoking is currently totally banned within a radius of 300 meters around JR Shinbashi Station apart from a small number of smokers' corners set up near the station. The smoking ban area will be moved to another station 9 months later, officials said.

When the new regulations began on Aug. 1, most people didn't know that they could only smoke in the few designated areas.

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