Organisers at next year’s Tokyo Olympics have announced there will be a stringent smoking ban with restrictions on all tobacco products and vaping devices.

Smoking will be banned at any indoor or outdoor Olympic or Paralympic venue, including perimeter areas run by the Tokyo Games.

The National Stadium under construction in Tokyo
The National Stadium under construction in Tokyo (Kyodo News/AP

Organisers say the prohibition is tougher than regulations for the last two Summer Olympics in London and Rio de Janeiro.

Tokyo is still a smoker’s heaven. Despite tougher laws enacted last year, smokers can light up in some restaurants and bars.

Smokers in Toyko
A smoking area in Tokyo (Koji Sasahara/AP)

Tobacco advertising is allowed on television, cigarette packages do not contain graphic health warnings, and tobacco is cheap compared with other major cities.

“Tokyo 2020 aims to leave a legacy of improved health for the county at large,” organisers said in a statement.

Japan’s national legislature last year approved a ban on smoking inside public facilities, but the measure is seen as weak and excludes many bars and restaurants.

A smoking area in Tokyo's Shiodome business district
A smoking area in Tokyo’s Shiodome business district (Shizuo Kambayashi/AP)

Tokyo’s city government separately enacted tougher rules last year to protect people from second-hand smoke. All provisions kick in during the run-up to the Olympics.

Smoking in still allowed in small eateries and bars. They make up half of Japanese establishments where it is common to see a customer eating with chopsticks in one hand with a cigarette in the other.

“Countering passive smoking has long been a concern,” said Keiko Nakayama, a Tokyo city government health official. “We would like to push for approving more anti-smoking measures so people stay healthy longer.”

The statement said the city’s smoking policy would be reviewed in five years, but more regulation will always face tough opposition despite the fact that smoking has declined in recent years.

The Japanese government has a large stake in tobacco. It owns a third of the stock and is the top investor in major cigarette company Japan Tobacco. The industry was a government monopoly until 1985, and is a huge source of tax revenue.

Smoking is cheap in Japan compared with other developed countries. A pack of Marlboro cigarettes costs about £3.70. In London and New York it is about £10.

According to World Health Organisation data for 2015, 32.7% of Japanese males smoke, compared with 24.4% in the US. The highest figures were East Timor (78%) and Indonesia (74.9%), and the lowest two were in Africa: Ethiopia (7.6%) and Ghana (7.1%).