<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126</id><updated>2009-05-05T17:26:02.913+09:00</updated><title type='text'>Smoke Free Japan</title><subtitle type='html'>Sick of all the smoking in Japan? Come by SmokeFreeJapan.com for a fun guide to smoke free restaurants, clubs, cafes and more.
Because it shouldn't be this hard.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>35</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-5892715980100767363</id><published>2008-04-22T19:31:00.002+09:00</published><updated>2008-04-22T19:44:47.628+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Smoke Free News'/><title type='text'>Possible Smoking Ban in Kanagawa Prefecture</title><content type='html'>Looks like Kanagawa Prefecture could possibly getting a regional smoking ban as of March next year similar to bans in other countries according to &lt;a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080416/lf_afp/healthlifestyletobaccojapan_080416061142" target="new"&gt;this article&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The ban, if enabled would ban smoking 100% in bars, restaurants, amusement venues, schools, hospitals and department stores which I think would be just simply incredible especially for Japan! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kazuko Hara who drafted the bill had this to say, &lt;i&gt;"Smoking bans are a global trend. This is also part of our campaign to reduce the risks from passive smoking, which may cause lung and other cancers among non-smokers."&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well done! Fingers crossed!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;(I wonder if this ban would include pachinko parlours?)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The article also has some interesting stats on the amount of smokers in Japan. Apparently the percent of Japanese people who smoke is now down to 26 percent. Not bad!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A search for comparisons found that &lt;a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/85135.php" target="new"&gt;15 percent of Australians smoke&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-5892715980100767363?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080416/lf_afp/healthlifestyletobaccojapan_080416061142' title='Possible Smoking Ban in Kanagawa Prefecture'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/5892715980100767363/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=5892715980100767363' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5892715980100767363'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5892715980100767363'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2008/04/possible-smoking-ban-in-kanagawa.php' title='Possible Smoking Ban in Kanagawa Prefecture'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-8232082940789454827</id><published>2008-03-31T23:02:00.003+09:00</published><updated>2008-03-31T23:18:45.909+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Organic'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Natural Station'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Chains'/><title type='text'>Natural Station</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/naturalstation1.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Natural Station" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Natural Station&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Juice / Sandwich Bar&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Aobadai, Shibuya, Kita Senju, Nishi Shinjuku and more.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www.naturalstation.co.jp" title="Visit the  Official Site"&gt;Web Site&lt;/a&gt;, E: &lt;a href="http://www.naturalstation.co.jp/formail/form.html" title="Email Form"&gt;Online Email Form&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you're an &lt;a href="http://www.boostjuice.com.au/" target="new"&gt;Boost Juice&lt;/a&gt; fanatic like me and find yourself going through some serious withdrawal during your stay in Japan the small, yet growing juice / sandwich bar / cafe Natural Station is a good (though not &lt;i&gt;as&lt;/i&gt; good) alternative.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As with most serving sizes in Japan the juices served here are smaller than those at Boost Juice though thankfully not as pathetically small as those served in the similar Japanese  juice chain, Juicer Bar (does anyone know what's with all those people who spend all that money on a shot of fruit juice and then stand around train platforms posing while they sip at it's minuscule contents for the next half hour?).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/naturalstation2.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Natural Station" width="200" height="150" /&gt; Natural station has a wide variety of freshly squeezed juices and organic coffees as well as a large selection of rather tasty and fresh sandwiches though watch out for the Bacon &amp; Tomato sandwich which has mayonnaise and tomato sauce on the bacon (only in Japan, right?).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well worth a go especially if you want something a little different from Starbucks. I tried out the Aobadai branch which is right opposite the main ticket gates and found service very fast and friendly and the interior quiet, clean and relaxing. Brush up on your Hiragana and Katakana beforehand though as all menus are in Japanese and without pictures.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-8232082940789454827?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/8232082940789454827/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=8232082940789454827' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/8232082940789454827'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/8232082940789454827'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2008/03/natural-station.php' title='Natural Station'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-8333662342677342164</id><published>2008-03-08T19:21:00.008+09:00</published><updated>2008-03-15T18:20:14.023+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Roppongi'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Organic'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe AKIRA'/><title type='text'>Cafe AKIRA</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/cafeakira1.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Cafe AKIRA" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Cafe AKIRA&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Organic Cafe&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Roppongi Icchome&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: About a 3 minute walk from Roppongi Icchome Station or a 10 minute walk from the larger and more famous Roppongi Hibiya and Oedo Line Stations. Check out their site for a map.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www.cafeakira.com" title="Visit the Cafe AKIRA Official Site"&gt;Web Site&lt;/a&gt;, Ph: 03-6229-2828, Fax: 03-6229-2829&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This wonderful little cafe was introduced to me by a good friend who's involved in the NPO which runs the cafe. They organise several projects around the world, one of which is producing &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; Free Trade coffee beans in Ethiopia which are used in Cafe AKIRA and taste simply amazing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As expected there's a wide variety of coffee (and none coffee) drinks available from about 315 Yen for an espresso shot to 630 Yen for a Vienna Coffee.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/cafeakira2.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Cafe AKIRA" width="200" height="150" /&gt; What I recommend though is getting one of the many lunch sets, particularly the sandwich ones which will get you a coffee of your choice, a rather decent salad and an amazing sandwich all from 1050 Yen depending on the set.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Something else worth considering is the art gallery in the basement which costs 1000 Yen for entrance but gets you a free drip coffee (again, this coffee tastes incredible!) and two cookies. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is worth noting though that the artwork in the gallery is on the surreal side so if that genre of art isn't your thing you might want to give it a miss. Personally I found it really interesting and worth my time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/cafeakira3.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Cafe AKIRA" width="200" height="150" /&gt; The cafe itself has a very relaxing and modern atmosphere with a very clean yet warm (very rare in Tokyo) interior design with wooden walls and Ethiopian themed photography decorating the walls. There's also a large flatscreen monitor on one wall with footage of Ethiopia accompanied by some of Idaki Shin's music performances.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A big bonus worth mentioning is that all the menus and boards are in Japanese &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; English and the staff is very non-Japanese friendly!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Cafe AKIRA is definitely not your average Starbucks and I mean that in a good way (as much as I do like Starbucks). If you want a genuinely nice, warm and relaxing Tokyo cafe without the smoking that seems to accompany 99% of the cafes here, Cafe AKIRA is well worth a look. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-8333662342677342164?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/8333662342677342164/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=8333662342677342164' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/8333662342677342164'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/8333662342677342164'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2008/03/cafe-akira.php' title='Cafe AKIRA'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-749483218397762095</id><published>2008-01-21T20:44:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2008-01-21T21:26:21.333+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bar'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Shinjuku'/><title type='text'>Usagi</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/usagi1.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Usagi" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Usagi&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Bar&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: About a 10 minute walk from the massive JR Shinjuku and Seibu Shinjuku Stations. 1-2 minutes from Shinjuku San-Chome Station on the Marunouchi or Shinjuku Lines. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: If coming from either the main JR Shinjuku or Seibu Shinjuku stations your best bet is to get yourself onto the large Shinjuku Dori (road) and walk towards (and past) OIOI for a good 10 minutes (or less depending on how fast a walker you are and who you're with) until you get to a massive intersection called the "Shinjuku 2 Intersection". There should be a pharmacy across the road. Cross the road, then turn left and walk until you hit the first road. Walk down that road, past  Dragon Men (one of most popular bars/clubs in the area) and walk through two intersections. Usagi should be on the 5th floor on your left.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: Door opens after 9pm. Usagi doesn't seem to have any website or advertised contact information though for an accurate map of the immediate Nichome area, check out &lt;a href="http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=362&amp;pID=977&amp;cName=Gay&amp;pName=gay-tokyo#gshin" target="new"&gt;this page&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I actually came across this smoke free bar in Nichome through a simple Google search but funnily enough when I mentioned it to several friends who I wanted to check it out with I was told that they had been regulars at the place for a while and that it has a pretty good reputation and not just for the fact that it's 100% no smoking!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/usagi2.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Usagi" width="200" height="150" /&gt; The bar is fairly spacious, especially for a Tokyo bar and one of the cleanest I have seen in Japan, period. It also has a huge warmth due to it's lighting, interior design and the amount of effort that's obviously been put into making it as homey as possible. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The owner is very friendly (served us up some super 5 star meat / veggie dish for free to thank us for moving seats and letting a larger group sit at the long table!) and welcomes Japanese and non alike. Being located in Nichome, Usagi (Japanese for "Rabbit") does attract a predominantly gay crowd but being Nichome you'll also find a fair mix of your average straight men and women as well so if you're part of a circle of friends which includes several demographics this isn't really a place you would have to worry about anyone feeling left out in.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Japanese and English menu offers a wide range of alcoholic and regular drinks though strange enough only lists one kind of beer. Most drinks will set you back between 700 to 900 yen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you need a break or a friend in your group needs to go out for a smoke, there's a nice balcony with a view of Nichome that people can step out on for a bit. Usagi is also a minutes walk from several popular clubs making it an ideal place to come back to if you need a rest from dancing or a meet up with friends before a big night out.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Very recommended.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-749483218397762095?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/749483218397762095/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=749483218397762095' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/749483218397762095'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/749483218397762095'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2008/01/usagi.php' title='Usagi'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-6703857325976066442</id><published>2007-12-17T21:26:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-12-17T21:28:47.663+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Smoke Free Parties'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Site News'/><title type='text'>Smoke Free Japan Facebook Group!</title><content type='html'>In preparation for the upcoming revamp &lt;a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19984144752" target="new" title="Smoke Free Japan Facebook Group"&gt;I've created a Smoke Free Japan Facebook Group!&lt;/a&gt; Please join if you're on Facebook, especially if you're interested in the Smoke Free Parties!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;See you there!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-6703857325976066442?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19984144752' title='Smoke Free Japan Facebook Group!'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/6703857325976066442/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=6703857325976066442' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6703857325976066442'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6703857325976066442'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/12/smoke-free-japan-facebook-group.php' title='Smoke Free Japan Facebook Group!'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-9216056215489331075</id><published>2007-12-16T21:49:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-12-16T21:58:52.060+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Smoke Free News'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Smoke Free Parties'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Site News'/><title type='text'>SmokeFreeJapan.com's Future</title><content type='html'>Was just going through my site's stats via our Reader Community (&lt;a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/smokefreejapan/"&gt;JOIN NOW!&lt;/a&gt;) and have noticed a steady increase in readership lately. What particularily thrilled me was SmokeFreeJapan.com being used as a reference in &lt;a href="http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/1392/Attractions%20in%20Japan%20for%20Free%20and%20budget%20travel" target="new"&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt; on SeekJapan! I was very surprised but also happy that people are finding the site useful.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I currently have several new reviews lined up that you can expect in to be posted in the next few days or so but I'm also curious as to what you, the reader would like to see on SmokeFreeJapan.com.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Besides "more reviews" are there any other features you would like to see? Would anyone buy "Smoke Free Japan" t-shirts if they were made? How about a badge or two?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Something I was planning to start next year are special "Smoke Free Parties" held every month or so. These would range from Smoke Free karaoke nights (who doesn't long for those!) to special parties in smoke free clubs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;None of this will happen without your support so please, post a comment (or two) below. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's time for a healthier social life in Tokyo and with New Years just around the corner, now's a good a time as any to start!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-9216056215489331075?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.seekjapan.jp/article/1392/Attractions%20in%20Japan%20for%20Free%20and%20budget%20travel' title='SmokeFreeJapan.com&apos;s Future'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/9216056215489331075/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=9216056215489331075' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/9216056215489331075'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/9216056215489331075'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/12/smokefreejapancoms-future.php' title='SmokeFreeJapan.com&apos;s Future'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-2576129517286662119</id><published>2007-11-25T21:03:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-11-25T21:35:53.813+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe Denmark'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bakery'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Shibuya'/><title type='text'>Cafe Denmark</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/denmark1.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Cafe Denmark" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Cafe Denmark&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Cafe / Bakery&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Shibuya&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: You couldn't ask for an easier to find place, especially in Shibuya. Just get out at the Hachiko Exit from Shibuya Station, cross the famous crossing, walk to the left of Starbucks and head towards HMV. It's about two blocks after Starbucks and &lt;i&gt;almost&lt;/i&gt; opposite HMV. Entrance is on the street level as is the bakery and the register but table and chairs are upstairs. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: Ph: 03-3462-5880&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Being in such a public location I've walked past this Denmark Cafe on almost a weekly basis but had never really bothered to give it ago, mostly out of my paranoia over the unhygienic displaying of uncovered pastries in Japan. But today I felt like some coffee and pastry and being on a super tight budget for the Christmas holidays I decided to give Denmark a go.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Much to my surprise, they serve more than just pastries and coffee, they have a rather substantial drink menu as well as several soups, sandwiches, and other solid foods in addition to the sweats pastries on show in the window.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I ordered a "Vegetable Hotdog", a special Christmas themed pastry and a mug of hot cocoa. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/denmark2.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Cafe Denmark" width="200" height="149" /&gt; Service was really fast, especially on a weekend though there was some unnecessary confusion when I ordered my cocoa. The girl behind the register kept thinking I was saying "Coca Cola" for some reason and after a few minutes of even pointing at the Japanese writing for "Cocoa" I was given hot cocoa &lt;i&gt;and&lt;/i&gt; a Coca Cola. I managed to explain to her that I just wanted the cocoa but a little common sense on her part would have saved us a lot of trouble.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Upstairs there was a huge selection of seats to choose from. Again not very busy at all. I decided to sit by the window as I was by myself and thought people watching would be some fun. &lt;a href="http://revver.com/watch/497470/flv/affiliate/47788/shibuya-danish-bakery/" target="new"&gt;This is what I saw&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;script src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.js?mediaId:497470;affiliateId:47788;width:380;height:292" type="text/javascript"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The cocoa and pastry were rather good. The "Vegetable Hotdog" turned out to be just a regular hotdog but with lettuce but it too was rather good. All three set me back around Y840 which wasn't too bad at all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I recommend Cafe Denmark, especially if you're on a budget or if your favourite cafe is packed on your day off. I wouldn't take a date here though it would be ideal to meet friends of students for private lessons due to it being almost impossible &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; to find and the number of seats available.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-2576129517286662119?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/2576129517286662119/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=2576129517286662119' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/2576129517286662119'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/2576129517286662119'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/11/cafe-denmark.php' title='Cafe Denmark'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-2630957313677558517</id><published>2007-09-05T23:54:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-09-05T23:52:55.238+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Soup Stock Tokyo'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Chains'/><title type='text'>Soup Stock Tokyo</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/soupstock01.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Soup Stock" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Soup Stock&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Chain&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: All over the place (just keep an eye out)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www.soup-stock-tokyo.com/" title="Visit the Official Soup Stock Site"&gt;Web Site&lt;/a&gt;,  E: &lt;a href="https://www.soup-stock-tokyo.com/index.php?t=type2&amp;l=e_mail_news&amp;r=e_mail_news&amp;tb=email" title="Email Soup Stock"&gt;email page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've been to several Soup Stocks during my stay in Tokyo and have found them to always be a rather clean (though a bit too sterile if you know what I mean) place to grab some lunch or dinner without having to put up with the hundreds of smokers in this city. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The two main Soup Stocks I've been to again and again are both actually &lt;i&gt;within&lt;/i&gt; train stations. The one at Futako Tamagawa is behind the ticket gates (and part of a cool book/magazine store to boot) so only train commuters get a chance to try it. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the exception of the &lt;a href="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/labels/Proud%20Cafe.php"&gt;Proud Cafe&lt;/a&gt;, Futako Tamagawa doesn't have any real smoke free locations so after a day of shopping and site seeing it's a good idea to keep the Soup Stock as an option for dinner on your way home.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The second Soup Stock that I've used a few times is within Takadanobaba station near the Tozai line, underground though near the ticket gates, not behind them so anyone can give it a go without buying a ticket. In a clever business move, this Soup Stock has merged with &lt;a href="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/labels/Bagel%20and%20Bagel.php"&gt;Bagel &amp; Bagel&lt;/a&gt; as well as a smoke free Japanese restaurant and a fruit juice bar giving you a lot of variety that most non-smokers aren't used to.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are heaps more locations around Tokyo.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Soup Stock itself serves quite substantial food, especially for the Japanese food industry. On offer is a rather diverse range of soups such as vegetarian, Thai, and even a rather cool Goya (sour melon) one that I tried. There is also two choices of chicken curry available and a substantial drink menu that should satisfy most looking for some refreshment. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/soupstock02.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: " width="200" height="149" /&gt; All of these can be combined into preselected sets with your choice of soup, curry (or bread roll) and drink for around 1050 Yen and because everything is cooked in bulk, your food is served seconds after paying for it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My only gripe with Soup Stock is it's white on white atmosphere which lacks any warmth whatsoever. Practicality is definitely placed over comfortability here and you'll find yourself wanting to go elsewhere almost as soon as you've finished your meal.   &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is however some great people watching to be had (&lt;a href="http://one.revver.com/watch/348587/flv/affiliate/47788" target="new"&gt;link&lt;/a&gt;):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="noScale" salign="TL" bgcolor="#000000" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="mediaId=348587&amp;affiliateId=47788&amp;allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="292" width="380"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/center&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-2630957313677558517?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/2630957313677558517/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=2630957313677558517' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/2630957313677558517'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/2630957313677558517'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2005/09/soup-stock-tokyo.php' title='Soup Stock Tokyo'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-4493968285988364796</id><published>2007-08-09T15:32:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-08-09T15:36:30.465+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Smoke Free News'/><title type='text'>Tokyo Taxis to be Smoke Free!</title><content type='html'>This has to be the best news I've heard all year regarding smoking in Japan. Starting in January next year, most of Tokyo's taxis will be smoke free!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From &lt;a href="http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/414090" target="new"&gt;JapanToday&lt;/a&gt; &lt;i&gt;"An association of taxi operators in Tokyo has effectively decided to make its members' taxi cabs nonsmoking, association officials said Thursday. The measure will possibly come into effect in January after official approval is gained at the group's extraordinary board meeting on Friday, they said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Among 436 Tokyo taxi operators, 389 are affiliated with the association, which covers some 36,000 taxi cabs, or more than 90% of them. The association will seek cooperation from its counterpart for owner-driven taxis, they added. A complete nonsmoking policy has already been introduced in Nagoya and its vicinity as well as in Kanagawa Prefecture."&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While I always take taxis with people who won't smoke in them, we're still exposed to the smoke from the passenger before us or even the driver.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm not sure about the specifics but it's definitely a good sign and I look forward to seeing how this develops and if other taxi companies follow suit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-4493968285988364796?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/4493968285988364796/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=4493968285988364796' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/4493968285988364796'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/4493968285988364796'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/08/tokyo-taxis-to-be-smoke-free.php' title='Tokyo Taxis to be Smoke Free!'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-1110371570526002846</id><published>2007-02-26T19:46:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-02-26T20:10:29.814+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bagel and Bagel'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Chains'/><title type='text'>Bagel &amp; Bagel</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/bagelbagel01.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Bagel &amp; Bagel" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Bagel &amp; Bagel&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Cafe Chain&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www.dreamcorp.co.jp/bb/index.html" title="Visit the  Official Site"&gt;Web Site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I had seen several of these Bagel &amp; Bagel cafes around Tokyo and in a few areas just outside the city centre (I tried the one in Tama Plaza) but I had never been a bagel fan (not as big in Australia as it is in the States I guess) so therefore didn't really see a point in giving them a go until I was starving and unable to find a &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; smoke free establishment to unwind in.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was pleasantly surprised!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While I'm pretty sure Bagel &amp; Bagel is Japanese owned, the feel and look of their cafes have a very strong western feel to them. They even claim to make their bagels "American style". &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The insides were very well designed with kudos to the manager for having &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; plants in the pots (way too many plastic plants in Japan for my liking) and English names for all the items on the menu. Though be careful as using the English names on the menu might not get you what you want. For example I ordered the Gourmet Drink Set and the woman had no idea what I was going on about. However when I read the Katakana title, "Dorinku Seto" she knew exactly where I was coming from and hilariously asked some of the other girls working why the English subtitles say different things than the Japanese.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All the menus do have pictures of each item though (even of the different kinds of bagels you can choose from, over 20!) so if your Japanese ability fails you, just point and say "Kore wo kudasai".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I grabbed a latte as my drink and the Vegetarian Bagel for my bagel of choice as well as a chocolate cookie (very similar to those great Subway cookies! Yum.) and found it a bit of a mixed bag. The bagel was great. Fresh ingredients and made in front of me behind a glass screen so I could see what was being put into it. Unlike Subway though, they don't ask you what you'd like at every stage so make sure you tell the waitress what you want before heading to the pick-up point.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The latte on the other hand was just... flat. It's like they had bought 100 yen milk and fried it in a saucepan. It just tasted wrong and, well... don't go there for the coffee!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Great bagels though and they do have other drink alternatives. Well worth a look. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-1110371570526002846?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/1110371570526002846/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=1110371570526002846' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/1110371570526002846'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/1110371570526002846'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/02/bagel-bagel.php' title='Bagel &amp; Bagel'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-6872915159637133649</id><published>2007-02-18T18:29:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-02-18T18:45:44.581+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Smoke Free News'/><title type='text'>Yamanote Line Platforms to be Smoke Free... Kind of</title><content type='html'>I was riding the Yamanote line yesterday and saw a very nice ad on the train's video screen about how, starting next month all the trains platforms on the line will be smoke free... kind of. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Right now they have "Smoking Zones" on each platform with two times of the day marked as "No Smoking". These zones are ineffective as, as everyone knows, train platforms are outside and there's a little thing called wind outside. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can't tell you my constant frustration every morning on my way to work at Takadanobaba station, standing 100 metres downwind from the "Smoking Zone" and still getting the full blast of the smokers. Shibuya station is more of a joke with the "Smoking Zone" being right behind the main stairs leading to the massive Hachiko exit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Luckily, JR has decided, in 2007 to install large fish-tanks for smokers to stand in so their smoke won't annoy other passengers. The fish-tanks will have air vacuums to vent the smoke out of the fish-tanks. I swear to God though, if it's vented onto the platform I think my head will implode.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to &lt;a href="http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/environment/pdf_2005/report2005e_45_47.pdf" target="new"&gt;this report&lt;/a&gt; the largest named group of complaints given to the JR company from passengers concerns smokers. Whether these complaints were about the ineffective "Smoking Zones" or about people smoking in non smoking parts of the platform is unknown. It stands to reason though that these fish-tanks are a response to public pressure to offer a healthier travel service.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now if only JR would place an occupancy limit on their carriages. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-6872915159637133649?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/6872915159637133649/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=6872915159637133649' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6872915159637133649'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6872915159637133649'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/02/yamanote-line-platforms-to-be-smoke.php' title='Yamanote Line Platforms to be Smoke Free... Kind of'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-6773007704383788311</id><published>2007-02-16T12:16:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-02-16T13:51:53.154+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Futako Tamagawa'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Proud Cafe'/><title type='text'>Proud Cafe</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/proud01.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Proud Cafe" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Proud Cafe&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Cafe&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Futako Tamagawa &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Turn left as you exit the ticket gates and turn left again as you walk out of the station. Head towards the river, along the main road and then cross to the other side. You should see a very tall, new apartment building called "Proud Towers". On the ground floor is the Proud Cafe.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: Currently no contact resources available. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just an eight minute train ride from Shibuya on the Tokyu Denentoshi Line is the area known as Futako Tamagawa, a rather expensive river side shopping area with some very pretentious shops and restaurants for those looking to treat themselves or simply window shop. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Unfortunately, with the exception of the rather nice &lt;a href="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/2007/01/starbucks.php" title="Read my opinion on Japanese Starbucks"&gt;Starbucks&lt;/a&gt; in Takeshimaya next to a beautiful rooftop garden in the same building, every eatery in the area seems to be very much pro smoking.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Luckily, one day on a walk down to the river I noticed this nice cafe on the ground floor of Proud Towers and gave it a go. Not only was it 100% smoke free, but it offered several organic coffee options as well as some lunch alternatives such as hot dogs and croissants. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The two guys running the place are friendly and more importantly, not &lt;i&gt;too&lt;/i&gt; friendly like most Japanese businesses. The menus are in English (sometimes humorously so) and the surroundings quiet. Almost every time I've been here, I've been the only customer which is quite strange considering how busy the area is, but hey, I'm not going to complain. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Proud Cafe also has a take out option which is something to think about when reminded that the cafe is literally across the road from a rather tranquil river. The only bad point I could think of is that the cafe allows pets inside with the customers. If you've got an allergy to dogs or cats this may be a problem, but as I mentioned before the business is almost always empty so it shouldn't be an issue 90% of the time. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Proud Cafe is a surprising find. Check it out.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-6773007704383788311?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/6773007704383788311/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=6773007704383788311' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6773007704383788311'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6773007704383788311'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/02/proud-cafe.php' title='Proud Cafe'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-6146790309167669735</id><published>2007-02-11T11:38:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-02-11T12:13:14.583+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Ootoya'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Japanese Food'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Chains'/><title type='text'>Ootoya</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/ootoya01.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Ootoya" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Ootoya&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Japanese Style Restaurant Chain&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: The Ootoya restaurant chain has heaps of restaurants in almost every major area of Japan making it very easy to find when you want to. A lot of places, such as Shibuya for example have two.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www.ootoya.com/" title="Visit the Ootoya Official Site"&gt;Web Site&lt;/a&gt;, E: &lt;a href="http://www.ootoya.com/contact/index.html" title="Email the Ootoya Company"&gt;Email Form&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After seeing these Ootoya signs all over Tokyo for my first two years in Japan, I still had no idea exactly what kind of restaurant they were or even if they were non smoking, but after being introduced to Ootoya by a friend of mine, I've never looked back.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ootoya is a very wide spread restaurant chain that has branches all over Japan. They're all 100% smoke free and offer some of the freshest modern Japanese food I've seen here. Most "sets" they serve come with the main dish, pickles, rice and the best miso soup you'll ever taste. I've actually found myself on several occasions going to Ootoya just for the complimentary miso soup, it's that good! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/ootoya02.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Ootoya" width="200" height="150" /&gt; The interiors are always well designed and the staff friendly. Ordering is very easy but unusual as you order &lt;i&gt;and pay&lt;/i&gt; for your meal before you sit down. Which I guess is good if you're in a rush as you can run as soon as you finish eating. Note that one of the branches in Shibuya (near my favourite comic book shop, Blister) requires you to sit down and order old school restaurant style. This branch seems to be the exception though.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ootoya is a very nice surprise for a first timer and one that I guarantee you'll come back to again and again once you try it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-6146790309167669735?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/6146790309167669735/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=6146790309167669735' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6146790309167669735'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6146790309167669735'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/02/ootoya.php' title='Ootoya'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-5095032771838384136</id><published>2007-02-02T22:31:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-02-11T12:13:58.604+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='No Smoking Bar Musicman'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bar'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Jiyugaoka'/><title type='text'>No Smoking Bar Musicman</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/nosmokingbar01.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: No Smoking Bar Musicman" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: No Smoking Bar Musicman&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Jazz Bar&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Jiyugaoka&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Turn right after taking the main exit and cross the road. It's on the 2F of the old shopping centre. You should be able to see it listed on the ground floor listing. The building's across the road from the station.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www15.ocn.ne.jp/~musicman/" title="Visit the No Smoking Bar Musicman Official Site"&gt;Web Site&lt;/a&gt;, Ph: 03-3725-0615.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You've got to give props to an establishment, especially in Japan, which advertises the fact that it's 100% smoke free to the point that it mentions it in it's own name.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No Smoking Bar Musicman is a tiny little jazz bar run by one of the friendliest bar owners I've met in Japan who despite not knowing much in the way of English was more than willing to help me an my friend navigate the drinks menu (which thankfully had some English in it) and help us feel at home. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/nosmokingbar02.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: No Smoking Bar Musicman" width="200" height="150" /&gt; Something that's great about this bar is that it's so close to the station (literally across the road) yet because it's off the street level, you're given a better chance of getting a seat at the bar. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This tiny gem offers a wide variety of beers and other alcohol as well as a great selection of music to listen to while you unwind (a listing of some of the owner's collection can be seen on the website, unfortunately only in Japanese).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You may not head out to Jiyugaoka that often, I only head out there for work, but the station's only a seven minute express train ride from Shibuya on the Toyoku Line and there is some great shopping to be had there making it well worth a trip at least once.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-5095032771838384136?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/5095032771838384136/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=5095032771838384136' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5095032771838384136'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5095032771838384136'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/02/no-smoking-bar-musicman.php' title='No Smoking Bar Musicman'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-6698229594934454777</id><published>2007-01-28T16:16:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-02-11T12:14:21.711+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Shopping'/><title type='text'>Smoke Free Merchandise</title><content type='html'>Our first wave of Smoke Free merchandise is online in our &lt;a href="http://www.cafepress.com/smokefreejapan" title="Support this site and spread the word!"&gt;brand new store!&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Spread the Smoke Free word.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-6698229594934454777?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.cafepress.com/smokefreejapan' title='Smoke Free Merchandise'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/6698229594934454777/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=6698229594934454777' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6698229594934454777'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6698229594934454777'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/smoke-free-merchandise.php' title='Smoke Free Merchandise'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-5637698693553985320</id><published>2007-01-28T14:25:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-02-11T12:14:38.071+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bio Cafe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Organic'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Restaurant'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Shibuya'/><title type='text'>Bio Cafe</title><content type='html'>&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/biocafe01-783767.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Bio Cafe in Shibuya" width="200" height="150" /&gt; &lt;b&gt;Name&lt;/b&gt;: Bio Cafe&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type&lt;/b&gt;: Organic Cafe and Restaurant&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Shibuya &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Take Hachiko Exit and cross the main crossing. Keep walking with the Starbucks on your right. Keep walking away from the station. When you see HMV, walk through it to get to the block to the right of you, cross the road and keep walking down that street away from the station. Two blocks down the street you'll see an Italian themed alley going up a hill on your right, leading off of the main road. Head up it and you'll find Bio Cafe on your right halfway up the hill. For a map, visit &lt;a href="http://www.biocafe.jp/flash/access.html" title="Bio Cafe Location Map"&gt;here on their site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;a href="http://www.biocafe.jp" title="Visit the Bio Cafe Official Site"&gt;Web Site&lt;/a&gt;, Ph: 03-5428-3322, E: &lt;a href="mailto:webmaster@biocafe.jp" title="Email Bio Cafe"&gt;webmaster@biocafe.jp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've been to the Bio cafe twice now and love it. There's very metropolitan feel to the place yet it's so quiet that you forget that you're in the heart of one of Tokyo's busiest areas. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Both time's I've been here I've had to wait (the cost of visiting a popular cafe I guess) but the wait has never been more than 10 minutes. I asked the waitress about throwing a party here on the following weekend but she said that they're booked solid so if you're planning to use them for an event, make sure to book several weeks in advance.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" src="http://www.smokefreejapan.com/uploaded_images/biocafe02-713196.jpg" border="1" alt="Smoke Free Japan: Bio Cafe in Shibuya" width="200" height="149" /&gt; The Bio Cafe offers a wide range of superbly made dishes, all of them being organic. From pasta dishes to salads, cheesecakes and quiches I loved almost everything me and my friends tasted. The drinks are also worth trying with a huge variety in organic fruit blends, coffees, teas and alcohol this establishment is prepared for any kind of social meal you and your friends are up for.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's also a nice place to relax by yourself with the place being staffed with the ever rare Japanese waitress, the kind that doesn't yell, scream and screech when all you want is peace and quiet and a chance to unwind. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Menus are in Japanese and English (though I found when we had a Japanese friend with us they didn't give us the English menu and when it was just me and my Aussie pal they gave us the English option by default). In short you may have to ask for it. The English isn't perfect (actually quite funny in places) but it's completely functional and at least they tried.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The prices are on par with Starbucks but with a better environment and selection making this little secret well worth checking out at least once and maybe again, and again and again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Can't recommend this place enough.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like this site? Subscribe to my &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan" title="Easy, New and Wicked Cool."&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=156239" target="new" title="Old school and easy newsletter subscription."&gt;email newsletter&lt;/a&gt; to get our updates as soon as they're online.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-5637698693553985320?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/5637698693553985320/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=5637698693553985320' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5637698693553985320'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5637698693553985320'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/bio-cafe.php' title='Bio Cafe'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-8525201155152177013</id><published>2007-01-21T20:08:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T20:14:31.624+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Site News'/><title type='text'>We're Alive!</title><content type='html'>As you've probably noticed, I've finally begun that makeover of SmokeFreeJapan.com that I promised so long ago that will completely revitalise the site and your dining experiences.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Right now I'm in the middle of reorganising all of the listings and categorising them. Don't like the blue layout? Don't worry, it's only temporary. The real one will look a lot better and sport some really cool features such as our own online community page.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To stay in the know, subscribe to our &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan"&gt;site feed&lt;/a&gt; and stick with us. People like us living in Japan deserve a good quality website and I'll try my hardest to make that happen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Happy Breathing!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-8525201155152177013?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/SmokeFreeJapan' title='We&apos;re Alive!'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/8525201155152177013/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=8525201155152177013' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/8525201155152177013'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/8525201155152177013'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/were-alive.php' title='We&apos;re Alive!'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-233438370648158977</id><published>2007-01-21T18:44:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T18:48:29.126+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Tea Room'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Okinawa'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Tea Room Ayamon'/><title type='text'>Tea Room Ayamon</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;Name:&lt;/b&gt; Tea Room Ayamon - Since 1983&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type:&lt;/b&gt; Tea House&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Shuri Monorail Station&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Get off at Shuri Monorail Station in Naha City and walk down Ryutan Dori towards Shurijo Castle. It's opposite the Post Office on the way. About a 4 minute walk.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-233438370648158977?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/233438370648158977/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=233438370648158977' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/233438370648158977'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/233438370648158977'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/tea-room-ayamon.php' title='Tea Room Ayamon'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-6323486679666659974</id><published>2007-01-21T18:42:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T18:43:55.419+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Okinawa'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Restaurant'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Nisa Bula'/><title type='text'>Nisa Bula</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;Name:&lt;/b&gt; Nisa Bula&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type:&lt;/b&gt; Mixed Restaurant&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Shuri Monorail Station&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Right on the corner of Ryutan Dori where you turn off for the Shurijo Castle, opposite the Family Mart. Walk from Shuri Monorail Station.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-6323486679666659974?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/6323486679666659974/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=6323486679666659974' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6323486679666659974'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6323486679666659974'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/nisa-bula.php' title='Nisa Bula'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-5444304115991411509</id><published>2007-01-21T18:37:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T18:38:15.496+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Sushi'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Sushi Kei'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Nezu'/><title type='text'>Sushi Kei</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;Name:&lt;/b&gt; Sushi Kei&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type:&lt;/b&gt; Sushi&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Contact:&lt;/b&gt; PH: 03-5685-0933.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Nezu&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Nezu 2-16-2, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0031. Hours: 11:30 -14:00 and 17:00 - 22:30.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-5444304115991411509?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/5444304115991411509/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=5444304115991411509' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5444304115991411509'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5444304115991411509'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/sushi-kei.php' title='Sushi Kei'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-751983517588213541</id><published>2007-01-21T18:34:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T18:36:18.868+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Takanawa'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Wine'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Wine Cellar Davis'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Restaurant'/><title type='text'>Wine Cellar Davis</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;Name:&lt;/b&gt; Wine Cellar Davis&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type:&lt;/b&gt; Wine and Food Restaurant.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Contact:&lt;/b&gt; Ph: 3440-6007&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Takanawa&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Closed Sunday night and Mondays.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-751983517588213541?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/751983517588213541/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=751983517588213541' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/751983517588213541'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/751983517588213541'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/wine-cellar-davis.php' title='Wine Cellar Davis'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-5159634148603950444</id><published>2007-01-21T18:32:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T18:34:24.751+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Italian'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Restaurant'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Chez Tomo'/><title type='text'>Chez Tomo</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;Name:&lt;/b&gt; Chez Tomo&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type:&lt;/b&gt; French Italian Cafe / Restaurant.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Contact:&lt;/b&gt; Tel: 03-5789-7731, Fax: 03-5789-7732.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Shirogane&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: 1F 5-15-5 Shirogane, Minato-ku.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-5159634148603950444?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/5159634148603950444/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=5159634148603950444' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5159634148603950444'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5159634148603950444'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/chez-tomo.php' title='Chez Tomo'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-6026537538752788758</id><published>2007-01-21T18:28:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T18:29:57.439+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cafe'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bar'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Roppongi'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Think Zone'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Organic'/><title type='text'>Think Zone</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;Name:&lt;/b&gt; Think Zone&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type:&lt;/b&gt; Organic cafe/ bar combined with an event space and book store.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Info:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.zoneroppongi.com" target="new"&gt;www.zoneroppongi.com&lt;/a&gt;, Tel: 5770-8777, Fax: 5770-8779, e-mail &lt;a href="mailto:info@zoneroppongi.com"&gt;info@zoneroppongi.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Roppongi &lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Zone Roppongi Building 1F, 6-2-31 Roppongi, Minato-ku Tokyo.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-6026537538752788758?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/6026537538752788758/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=6026537538752788758' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6026537538752788758'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/6026537538752788758'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/think-zone.php' title='Think Zone'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-5972324031689290588</id><published>2007-01-21T18:26:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T18:28:12.732+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Roppongi'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Soba'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Honmura-An'/><title type='text'>Honmura-An</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;Name:&lt;/b&gt; Honmura-An&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type:&lt;/b&gt; Soba Restaurant&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Contact:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.honmura-an.co.jp" target="new"&gt;www.honmura-an.co.jp&lt;/a&gt;, Tel: 03-3401-0844.&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;In Brief&lt;/b&gt;: English Menu Available.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Roppongi&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: 2F Seven and Seven Blg, 7-14-18 Roppongi, Minato-ku.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-5972324031689290588?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/5972324031689290588/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=5972324031689290588' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5972324031689290588'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/5972324031689290588'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/honmura.php' title='Honmura-An'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31693126.post-7811615320586796675</id><published>2007-01-21T18:24:00.000+09:00</published><updated>2007-01-21T18:26:00.714+09:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Hiro-o'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='La Jolla'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Restaurant'/><title type='text'>La Jolla</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;Name:&lt;/b&gt; La Jolla&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Type:&lt;/b&gt; American Style Restaurant.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Station&lt;/b&gt;: Hiro-o&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Location&lt;/b&gt;: Hiro-o 5-16-3, Koyasu Bldg. 2F, Open 11:30am-2pm &amp; 5pm-11pm.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31693126-7811615320586796675?l=smokefreejapan.blogspot.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/feeds/7811615320586796675/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=31693126&amp;postID=7811615320586796675' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/7811615320586796675'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/31693126/posts/default/7811615320586796675'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokefreejapan.blogspot.com/2007/01/la-jolla.php' title='La Jolla'/><author><name>Brad</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/07890546366062670499</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='09228272800952725559'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry></feed>