Workplace Workings: The Smoking Room

I'll start out by saying that I'm not a smoker. I'm also not really bothered by smoking. I often don't notice it, and I generally unbothered by it's presence. That being said, I am fully aware of the danger of second-hand smoke and think it's a good thing that it's so harshly regulated in the US...no complaints from me. However, for those who are smokers and are troubled by the lengths (often literal) they have to go to take a smoke break, you are in luck in Japan. You can still smoke in restaurants and bars, there is a smoking car on the train, and right down the hall from my office there is also a smoking room. While my co-workers who smoke back in the US have to exit the building and often walk a significant distance away from it (no joke in the arctic cold of Pittsburgh) - my colleagues here in Japan can simply stop in to the room on the way to the bathroom...how interesting!