americans, as we all know have an aversion to smoke. in the 80s ‘non-smoking’ areas started appearing in restaurants. in the 90s u.s. states like california ushered in laws banning smoking in restaurants and bars. now 20 years later, if you want to light up a marlboro, you’ll have to hide in an alley next to junkies and homeless people who will most likely also moralise about the dangers of second hand smoke.
whenever one of the only 20% of americans who actually own a passport pauses long enough to venture toward japan or asia. they are flabbergasted that people smoke. and that bars are filled with well, people smoking. there was a time when americans would go one step further and lecture euro-fags about the dangers of cigarette smoking.
but perhaps at some point within the past decade perhaps popular travel guides have pointed out to their readers that puritanism didn’t really work in europe, which is why all those people migrated to the united states.