Outdoor smokers on the rise as April law set to take effect

OKAYAMA, Japan - A law, set to take full effect in April that will ban people from smoking indoors in government buildings and other places in Japan, appears to be backfiring as outdoor smoking is making a brash comeback in all the wrong places.As smokers find it increasingly difficult to find designated indoor smoking areas, they are turning to neighborhood parks to light up and drawing the ire of nearby residents for the unwanted smoking and cigarette butts left scattered about.Government agencies find themselves between a rock and a hard place as they try to appease the general public fr…READ FULL ARTICLE