Smoking Areas on Miyajima (Itsukushima): 2026 Guide — the island, Miyajimaguchi and the ferry

About this guide and disclaimer

This is a third-party guide compiled from the official site of the Miyajima Tourist Association, the Hatsukaichi City official site (https://www.city.hatsukaichi.hiroshima.jp/) and the official guidance of railway operators, reflecting the situation as of July 2026. The availability, location and operating hours of smoking areas may change without notice. This article does not encourage smoking in any particular place. When you actually go, always check the latest official guidance and smoke only at designated places, with good manners. Where we could not confirm official primary information, we say so and do not assert a location.

The smoking area on Miyajima, and how to think about Omotesando and Itsukushima Shrine

According to the guidance published on the official site of the Miyajima Tourist Association, there is only one smoking area on Miyajima island. It is near the "Miyajima Pier plaza" where you arrive by ferry, a 1–2 minute walk from the pier. The association notes that this smoking area has several large ashtrays, so you can dispose of butts even without a portable ashtray, and that there is a convenience store near the pier entrance where cigarettes and lighters can be bought. The association's article is shown as published on 6 November 2023 and updated on 5 April 2025.

• One smoking area on Miyajima island, near the Miyajima Pier plaza (Miyajima Tourist Association official)
• A 1–2 minute walk after getting off the ferry
• Several large ashtrays are installed
• There is a convenience store near the pier entrance
• Availability may change, so check official guidance before use

For other parts of the island — the Omotesando shopping street, the area around Itsukushima Shrine, and the Mt. Misen trails — we could not confirm the existence of outdoor smoking areas in official primary sources. This article does not assert the location of smoking areas we cannot confirm. We also do not assert whether smoking is permitted within the precincts of Itsukushima Shrine; please follow the rules the shrine officially sets for visitors. If you want to smoke on the island, using the smoking area near the pier is the reliable option. Indoor spaces at restaurants and accommodation are in principle non-smoking under the revised Health Promotion Act described below.

Smoking around Miyajimaguchi (JR Miyajimaguchi Station, Hiroden Miyajimaguchi, the ferry terminal)

Miyajimaguchi is the gateway to Miyajima on the mainland side. JR West's Sanyo Line Miyajimaguchi Station, Hiroshima Electric Railway's Hiroden Miyajimaguchi Station and the Miyajimaguchi passenger terminal are clustered here, and the ferry to Miyajima leaves from this point. Many travellers think about having a cigarette before boarding, but you should assume that smoking is not possible inside the stations.

On its official "measures to prevent second-hand smoke" page, JR West lists Kyoto and Okayama as the conventional-line limited-express stops that have smoking rooms; Miyajimaguchi Station is not among them. JR West also asks passengers to refrain from using electrically heated tobacco, e-cigarettes and similar products in non-smoking areas. Being a heated product does not make it acceptable to use inside a station.

For outdoor smoking areas in front of the station or around the ferry terminal at Miyajimaguchi, we could not confirm official primary information, so this article does not assert a location. Check whether smoking areas exist, where they are and when they are open on the in-terminal signage at Miyajimaguchi passenger terminal or the official guidance of each facility. If you cannot confirm, it is safer to refrain from smoking outdoors and to use the smoking area near the pier after crossing to the island.

Note that Hatsukaichi City has been collecting a "Miyajima Visitor Tax" since 1 October 2023. According to the city, it applies to people who visit (enter) Miyajima by boat, at either 100 yen per person per visit or 500 yen per person for a year. Residents of the Miyajima town area, people commuting to offices there for 48 hours or more per month, students commuting to schools there for 48 hours or more per month, pre-school children, students participating as part of school education such as school trips (excluding university students) and their chaperones, and people holding disability certificates are among those not subject to the tax. It is collected via ticket machines and counters, automatic fare gates using transport IC cards, and pre-purchased exchange vouchers from travel agencies. Check the latest treatment on Hatsukaichi City official guidance.

Hatsukaichi City's rules and the revised Health Promotion Act (indoors in principle non-smoking)

Miyajima belongs to Hatsukaichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture. The city's smoking-related ordinance is the "Hatsukaichi City Ordinance on Promoting Non-Smoking at Public Facilities," in force since 1 April 2019. Its purpose is to build momentum for preventing second-hand smoke across the whole city and to protect residents' lives and health, by creating a non-smoking environment at public facilities established by the city (administrative property of the city as defined in Article 238(4) of the Local Autonomy Act). The text contains no penalty provisions, and it does not contain provisions banning street smoking as such. Facilities such as the crematorium, Spa Rakan, Iwakura Farm Park, Miyajima Tsutsumigaura Nature Park, Miyajima Mori-no-Yado and municipal housing are excluded from its scope.

At the time of writing, we could not confirm any Hatsukaichi City ordinance that imposes an administrative fine for street smoking. However, "no fine ordinance confirmed" does not mean "you may smoke anywhere." Miyajima is a tourist destination that holds a World Heritage site and lies within a national park, with the fire, deer and litter issues described below. Please smoke only at the designated smoking area.

Indoors, the revised Health Promotion Act, fully in force since 1 April 2020, makes indoor spaces in principle non-smoking. Smoking indoors at restaurants, accommodation and commercial facilities is possible only where a smoking room meeting the legal standards has been provided. Schools, hospitals and administrative bodies have been in principle non-smoking on their entire grounds since July 2019. If you want to smoke at a restaurant or inn on Miyajima, always check the posted sign showing whether smoking is allowed.

• Hatsukaichi City Ordinance on Promoting Non-Smoking at Public Facilities: in force 1 April 2019, no penalty provisions, no street-smoking provisions
• It covers public facilities established by the city (some facilities are excluded)
• No city ordinance imposing a fine for street smoking could be confirmed at the time of writing
• Revised Health Promotion Act: fully in force 1 April 2020, indoors in principle non-smoking
• Schools, hospitals and administrative bodies: in principle non-smoking on the entire grounds since July 2019

Miyajima as a World Heritage site and part of Setonaikai National Park: handling fire

Miyajima (Itsukushima) is where Itsukushima Shrine was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1996, and most of the island lies within Setonaikai National Park. The primeval forest of Mt. Misen behind the shrine was designated a national natural monument in 1929 and became a special protection zone of the national park in 1957. In a special protection zone, activities are restricted under the Natural Parks Act, and the use of fire is regulated.

Smoking involves fire. On Miyajima, where wooden shrine buildings, the wooden houses of the Omotesando shopping street and dry forest all sit close together, smoking while walking or outside designated places translates directly into fire risk. Throwing away butts is out of the question: always use an ashtray or a portable ashtray. For whether any activity involving fire is permitted while hiking or strolling, follow the official guidance of the Ministry of the Environment, Hiroshima Prefecture and Hatsukaichi City.

Manners where deer live: dropped butts and the risk of ingestion

Wild deer live on Miyajima. Under its "Miyajima Area Deer Protection and Management Plan (2nd phase, revised)," Hatsukaichi City aims to build a new coexistence in which people and deer keep a certain distance, and manages the deer appropriately as wild animals. The city's official guidance points out that human intervention such as feeding has led deer to settle in built-up areas and to a marked increase in population density, causing damage to residents' living environment and harm to tourists, and that the deer themselves suffer health damage such as nutritional disorders when foreign objects they swallow by mistake accumulate in their stomachs.

This is not someone else's problem for smokers. A butt on the ground is, to a deer, a foreign object indistinguishable from food. Dropping butts on the street is not merely a matter of scenery; it leads directly to harm to wildlife. The same consideration is asked for at Nara Park, where deer also live, and the thinking is the same. Always use the ashtray at the smoking area or a portable ashtray, and never let a butt fall to the ground.

• Always put butts in the smoking area ashtray or a portable ashtray; never drop them
• Do not feed the deer (the policy of Hatsukaichi City and Hiroshima Prefecture)
• Do not leave wrappers or skewers from street food lying around either
• Take care that deer do not pull at cigarettes or paper items in your bags or pockets
• Even at the smoking area, do not leave butts or empty packs outside the ashtray

Heated tobacco, e-cigarettes, and the ban on smoking under 20

Under the revised Health Promotion Act, heated tobacco is also covered. A smoking room exclusively for heated tobacco may be provided in part of a facility as a transitional measure, but cigarettes cannot be smoked there. For railways, JR West asks passengers to refrain from using electrically heated tobacco, e-cigarettes and similar products in non-smoking areas. On Miyajima and at Miyajimaguchi alike, assume that heated and electronic products should be used at designated smoking places, just like cigarettes.

Smoking under the age of 20 is prohibited by law in Japan. Under the revised Health Promotion Act, people under 20 — who are more strongly affected by second-hand smoke — may not enter places where smoking is permitted, even when they are not there to smoke. Please keep this in mind if you visit Miyajima with family.

Find nearby smoking areas with MottoSuitai

If you want to find smoking areas around Miyajima and Miyajimaguchi or elsewhere in Hiroshima Prefecture, you can list nearby smoking areas from MottoSuitai's map. For central Hiroshima, which many people visit on the same trip, see the Hiroshima Station smoking guide, and for manners at another destination where wild deer live, see the Nara Park smoking guide as well.

Before you go: always check official information

This third-party guide was compiled from the official guidance of the Miyajima Tourist Association, Hatsukaichi City and railway operators as published as of July 2026. The location, number and operating hours of smoking areas may change, and where official primary information could not be confirmed we have not asserted a location. When you actually go, always confirm the latest information on the Miyajima Tourist Association official site, the Hatsukaichi City official site (https://www.city.hatsukaichi.hiroshima.jp/) and the official guidance of each facility and railway operator. Please smoke only at designated places, with good manners.