Mayor Zenkichi Kojima of Shizuoka City, located in the middle of Japan's main island Honshu, said Tuesday the municipal government will institute a smoking ban on pedestrians after hearing a plea by a 12-year-old boy with asthma who spearheaded a petition campaign.

Yuta Oishi, a freshman at a local junior high school, called for an ordinance to impose a ban at a civic committee meeting of the city assembly on 6 December. The plea was adopted unanimously. Oishi and others collected around 24,000 signatures in support of a ban in the city, which has a population of 700,000. (pi)