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• Japan Health Ministry The 1st Govt Office To Ban Smoking 

Japan's health ministry will ban smoking in its offices from next spring, making it the country's first government agency to be smoke-free, a ministry official said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will ban smoking in its offices in Tokyo from April, with smoking areas set up on each floor of the building to be removed by late March, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Smoking will only be allowed in a section on the first floor, which is used mainly as a reception area, and some restaurants inside the building.

The Health Ministry building also houses the Ministry of Environment and the Cabinet Office. Both have been asked to cooperate in the ban, the official said.

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