[News] a-nation 2018 stadium fes

[douggn]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

I voted for W. Don't wanna hear her butcher HANABI again and BLUE BIRD had it's fair share of performances this year.



Also ridiculous. I am TOTALLY AGAINST SMOKING. It's a disgusting habit. However "I promise I won't do it again." doesn't really fix things. They should've done checks before hiring people as ultimately this does damage to an already damaged brand.

As bad as smoking can be, you cant not hire someone for smoking. This is just a slow day news story

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by douggn

As bad as smoking can be, you cant not hire someone for smoking. This is just a slow day news story

Unfortunately, Japanese people get up in arms about really weird things sometimes. Underage smoking there is a big deal even though it's entirely hypocritical. I mean, I remember back in the day when Kago Ai (morning musume member) got caught smoking underage and her career was essentially ended after that.

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

What bothers me most about this smoking "scandal" is that this isn't about trying to protect underaged teens from smoking. He broke a rule and this is why this is a big deal. One of the things I hate most here and honestly can't deal with is how people are allowed to smoke in bars, resraurants and cafés. The "smoking areas" in resraurants and cafés are a joke, most of the time there isn't even a door between the smoking area and the normal one. Even if there is, the door is always open and the rest of the shop still stinks. People take their little kids in the smoking area all the time and because, ironically enough, you are allowed to smoke in all kinds of closed rooms but you're not allowed to smoke in public most often, I see parents smoking in their car while the kid sits with them in the car.
Also funny: when buying cigarettes or alcohol, no one ever checks an ID or something. You just have to tap on the screen and say you're already 20. I can't count the times I saw very young people buy cigarettes and alcohol who were definitely not 20.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against cigarettes or alcohol and I definitely started drinking before I was 18 (but at least I had to be creative and not just tap on a screen lol). But I still think that there should be laws protecting teenagers and kids and also people who don't want to eat or drink while others smoke next to them. It is ridiculous to tell a 19 year old he should be sorry for breaking the rules and finding it normal for parents to smoke next to their kids.

And this is why I say "hypocritical". It's more about the fact that a rule has been broken and they got caught. That's it. Japan doesn't care about underage smoking or drinking at all so long as you don't get caught doing it. I worked in a bar in Tokyo for a number of years and when I suspected someone underage was being served, I told my manager. The response? We didn't check their ID, so it's fine. As long as we don't "know". And whenever I asked someone's age I got reprimanded for doing so. So.....yeah.....