I'm planning a June/July trip to Japan with my 13 year old daughter and my husband and I'm so excited! I found emd's wonderful trip report with her own teen and will be following it somewhat closely.

My daughter travels pretty easily at this point except for one quirk: she hates the smell of cigarette smoke and has thrown up a few times because of it. How hard is Japan going to be? I've been looking for hotels/ryokans with non-smoking rooms (Tokyo, Hakone, Takayama, Kyoto/Osaka) and I guess large Western-style hotels are best for us. Any other suggestions for us re hotels, restaurants, transportation? Thanks and I'm sure I'll be back at the forum as I start planning further.

It's gotten so much better since we moved here 13 years ago. Trains have non-smoking cars (reserved seats on these cars pretty consistently are full while smoking cars are pretty empty). Buses and airplanes are completely non-smoking. Taxis are non-smoking, too, but often the driver smokes while waiting for passengers...not all of them, but many in our experience.

Most hotels now have non-smoking rooms and most restaurants have a non-smoking section unless they are very small. It's now very rare for me to be bothered by smoke, and I'm sensitive like your daughter.

While smoking habit has gone down in Japan in recent years, there are still many more people smoking than in the West (not helped by cheap cigarette prices from a little over $2 a pack/20).
The number of strictly non-smoking rooms in many hotels is still limited, maybe 20% of total. And even if they say your room is non-smoking, you can't tell if there were smokers staying there and the cleaning staff just ventilated the room and used air freshner. Insist on non-smoking rooms on non-smoking floor. Smoking is still allowed in some cars on Shinkansen and other express trains, so make sure to book your seats in non-smoking section. And smoking isn't banned outright in many restaurants and while they try to segregate smokers, it doesn't always work. The same goes for cafes and fast-food places. And while smoking is now controlled in many public places and in outdoor areas, you cannot always escape the waft of cigarette smoke at any time or place.

Thanks very much KimJapan and Alec!

My suggestion is to book a bullet train seating at least two cars away from smoking car. The smoke tends to seep in to the next car. For hotels, you may look into female only non-smoking rooms. They tend to have extra amenity in the room as they compete for women travelers. Actually, Western style hotel rooms may not be the best choice unless they are strictly non-smoking rooms/floors. Japanese style rooms are open and airy and easier to erase the smell if a guest cheated. In Hakone, I recommend Hakone Lake Hotel. It has both Japanese and Western style rooms with the view of the lake. It is surrounded by nature parks all around. It is located just a few steps from the last ropeway station(Togendai)where you can ride the lake cruising boat to Hakone town. On the way you will see the volcanic steam rising, view of the Mt. Fuji, the lake, etc. Also it has the best dinner & BF in the area(blogged before and confirmed after staying) and included in the low room rate.

Here's a piece from the Daily Yomiuri a few days ago-

Kanto, Kansai far apart in antismoking measures

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national...30TDY01301.htm