Osaka struggles to stamp out cigarette littering

A worker cleans up garbage including cigarette butts on Ebisubashi Bridge in Osaka's Dotonbori district early in the morning in September. | JIJI

Jiji

Nov 11, 2026

Osaka – Cigarette littering shows no sign of abating in Minami, the bustling entertainment district in Osaka where restaurant-lined streets are crowded with tourists and young people.

Despite a citywide ban on smoking on streets, a deadly fire believed to have been caused by a discarded cigarette butt broke out in the district last year. The city government and private groups are now working to set up more designated smoking areas.

Early one drizzly morning in mid-September, a sanitation worker was picking up cigarette litter on Ebisubashi Bridge, in the heart of the Dotonbori area in Minami. Clumps of butts lay scattered across the pavement, along with empty cigarette packs and plastic bags.

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