TOKYO – My holiday trip to Japan’s sprawling capital was awe-inspiring, intimidating, and fascinating. Coming from a monolingual Westerner who had never left North America, Tokyo’s population of 35 million—the most of any metropolitan area in the world—and spaghetti-like labyrinth of nameless streets was, to say the least, daunting.

Once you get past the shock of the wondrous, polite, and clean Japanese culture, and once you’ve taken in the temples, raw fish, sumo wrestlers, and crowded metro cars, Tokyo is an amazing place to wind down the day with a cigar. Consider this photo, taken from the balcony of the condo I was lucky enough to call home for eight days:

It almost looks peaceful and serene, doesn’t it? As you can imagine, Tokyo is anything but. So once I got above street level and had an opportunity to enjoy the view, I found I could sit for hours and be completely entertained by the metropolis’ sheer size. From the neighborhood of Roppongi, not far from the Tokyo Tower (pictured), skyscrapers pack the landscape as far as the eye can see.

The inhabitants of this futuristic yet traditional society are, relatively speaking, quite smoker friendly. The lamentable anti-smoking frenzy hasn’t yet reached Japan’s densely populated shores. Most bars and many restaurants welcome smokers, Tokyo’s businessmen are often seen outside puffing away on cigarettes (half of adult Japanese males smoke them), and tobacco is readily available in many vending machines.

Case in point: In a scene that could have been taken from Lost in Translation, I had no trouble lighting up a cigar in one high-end restaurant/bar with a spectacular view. No one else was packing a stogie—I didn’t see many other cigars outside the stash I brought from the U.S.—but my fellow patrons didn’t even bat and eyelash.

Heck, I would have fired up a Perdomo on the bullet train I took to Hiroshima if there was a seat to be had in the smoking car. Too bad. I think it would have been spectacular to smoke premium tobacco at 185mph while Mount Fuji flew by.

All this isn’t to say, however, that smoking is completely tolerated on the island. There are scores of “No Smoking” and smoking etiquette signs, most of them comical. And, demonstrating the choice that prevails in the absence of heavy-handed government edicts, it isn’t hard to find self-regulated smoke-free restaurants and bars.

What are hard to find are tobacco shops. Well, let’s face it; everything is hard to find in Tokyo. But I didn’t stumble across a single establishment that sold cigars in all of my lengthy excursions in Japan. I would imagine, though, that Cubans are readily available for a hefty price. (Everything is expensive in Japan, and the current dollar-yen exchange rate doesn’t do American tourists any favors.) So, if you’re planning a trip of your own, let me suggest you bring along enough cigars to last the trip. Then you’ll be all set to take in one of the most interesting and unique cultures in all of the developed world.

-Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys