Japan royals end cigarette gifts

Smoking will not be banned in the Imperial Palace, however

Japan's Imperial Palace is to end its decades-old tradition of giving special cigarettes as gifts to employees.

The palace said it was responding to a decline in smoking in the country, amid efforts to discourage the habit.

The Imperial Palace, the emperor's home in Tokyo, will not ban smoking and will continue to offer cigarettes to guests.

The Imperial cigarettes, each imprinted with a gold chrysanthemum flower, are made by Japan Tobacco, and went into production in 1934.

The number of such cigarettes the company produces has dropped from 280m in 1944 to 1.4m in 2003, said Japan Tobacco spokesman Kei Koro.

The palace will stop giving them away as gifts to its employees and volunteers in April 2007, the Imperial Household Agency announced.

There have been moves to ban smoking in public places over the last few years in Japan, including on the streets of Chiyoda Ward in Tokyo, and parliament is considering tougher warnings on tobacco packets.

But smoking is well tolerated in Japan. Cigarettes are relatively cheap - costing an average of 300 yen ($2.80) for a pack of 20 - and Japan has one of the highest smoking rates in the developed world - around 30% of adults smoke.