Cigarette vending machine woes

An owner of a cigarette vending machine in Fukuoka has drawn national attention after he attached an age verification card to the machine to save potential customers the hassle of obtaining/using such an ID:

“It is an act that erodes the age-verifying system and the public’s confidence in the tobacco industry,” said a representative of the Tobacco Institute of Japan, referring to the man’s actions.

The ID cards, dubbed “taspo,” were introduced this year to combat underage smoking.

The institute had been poised to nullify the man’s vending machine license, which would have been a first in Japan. The Ministry of Finance’s Tobacco and Salt Industries Office also hinted at the possibility of punishment for the man if he kept up the practice.

According to the man, sales of cigarettes at the vending machine he manages dropped by about 20 percent from May, when the taspo ID card system was introduced in Fukuoka Prefecture.

In order to boost sales, the man attached a taspo ID card of a family member to the vending machine with a wire in late May. He also attached a paper to the machine, which reads, “This is a taspo ID card exclusively for this vending machine. Minors are not supposed to use the card.”

Yame Police Station was alerted to the case and asked the man to remove the taspo ID card from the vending machine, saying, “It is not favorable from an educational point of view.”

The man initially refused to abide by the request, saying, “It does not violate any law.”

“I think it is the responsibility of parents to decide whether their kids can buy cigarettes. I’m not going to remove the ID card unless there’s a law that regulates such a practice,” the man told the Mainichi.