Smoking in Japan

Hello

My friend and I are going to Japan next week and I have a question.
We are both from Switzerland and both smokers.
In Switzerland it is legal to smoke and buy cigarettes when you are 16 years old.
I've read that to buy cigarettes in Japan you have to be 20 years old.
Now that shouldn't be a problem because I can bring cigarettes on my own.
I just wanted to know if it's somehow illegal when we smoke althoug we are both 19 years old.
Of course we're going to respect the smoking laws in Japan and only smoke there where it is aloud.
And of course we aren't heavily smokers.

I just wanted to know if it's illegal for us to smoke there in general.

Thank you for your time.

Jason

Legally speaking, minors are not allowed to smoke in Japan, and minors are defined as those under 20 in Japan. Period.

"Now that shouldn't be a problem because I can bring cigarettes on my own"

not so sure about that,you have to get through customs,and if there aint older than 19 guy with you to smuggle it for you they might have to remove them (read the japanese embassy web carefully in case i got it wrong but i wouldnt like to expend hours the airport just getting searched(for cigarettes)

Jason,

My opinion is that things like smoking and drinking should be allowed only to those who are mature enough.

In other words, I hope you are mature enough to figure out that no matter what nationality you are, you are expected to obey the laws of the country you are staying in and usually smoking ages don't have exceptions.

But if you're asking how strict they are about 19 year olds breaking the law, in Japan 19 year olds would hardly be asked to show IDs even if they're smoking.

However, it's not too easy for 19 year olds to buy cigarettes here in Japan.

Thank you for the replies.

Well maybe some of you misunderstood me.
I'm not planning to break any laws or trying to cheat the system.

I just wanted to know if you're aloud to smoke if you're 19 years old.
I once was in Spain and you could buy cigarettes there only if you're 18 but you are aloud to smoke when you're 16.
But it seems that in Japan smoking and buying cigarettes is only aloud when you're 20 years old.

Guess I have to quit. xD