A Japanese marketing company offers their non-smoking workers an extra days holidays to compensate for cigarette breaks smokers take.
Piala Inc is a marketing firm based in Tokyo. They offer the perk in September and it was appreciated by staff.
Photo via flickr
The spokesman for the company Hirotaka Matsushima said the idea was suggested by one of his non-smoking staff saying that smoking breaks had been causing problems.
"Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving non-smokers some extra time off to compensate", Mr Matsushma added.
Photo via flickr
With so many complaints about smokers spending at least 15 minutes a day walking from their 29th-floor office to the basement, company bosses implement the policy to take the balance.
Company CEO Takao Asuka said he hoped employees can quit smoking through incentives instead of penalties.
30 employees out of 120 have made use of the extra days off so far and four people have given up smoking due to the perk.
Photo via flickr
World Health Organisation statistics show 21.7 percent of Japanese adults smoke, though the figure is higher among older generations.
TOKYO (AP) — A strong earthquake that struck southwestern Japan late Wednesday left nine people with minor injuries and caused damages such as burst water pipes and small landslides, authorities said, but there was no danger of a tsunami.
The magnitude 6.6 quake was centered just off the western coast of the southwestern main island of Shikoku, in an area called the Bungo Channel, a strait separating Shikoku and the southern main island of Kyushu.
The quake occurred 50 kilometers (30 miles) below the sea's surface and posed no danger of a tsunami, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Thursday that six in Ehime prefecture, two in neighboring Kochi and two others in Oita on Kyushu island suffered minor injuries, mostly from falling at home.
Water pipes were ruptured at a number of locations in Sukumo City in Kochi prefecture, and grave stones collapsed at a Buddhist temple in Ainan town in Ehime prefecture, according to local media reports. Falling rooftiles were also reported.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were reported from four reactors operating at three nuclear power plants in Shikoku and Kyushu.
As part of the Pacific “ring of fire," Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone areas. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011 devastated large areas along Japan's northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdowns. On Jan. 1, a magnitude 7.6 quake struck the north-central region of Noto and left 241 people dead.
This shows the site of a rock fall following an earthquake in Ohzu, Ehime prefecture, western Japan Thursday, April 18, 2024. According to Kyodo News reports, a strong earthquake hit Ehime and Kochi prefectures in western Japan on Wednesday night, but no tsunami warning was issued. (Kyodo News via AP)
Police officers clean the debris from an earthquake in Uwajima, Ehime prefecture, western Japan Thursday, April 18, 2024. According to Kyodo News reports, a strong earthquake hit Ehime and Kochi prefectures in western Japan on Wednesday night, but no tsunami warning was issued. (Kyodo News via AP)
