Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JT’s Annual Survey Finds 29.2% of Japanese Adults Are Smokers

Tokyo, October 18, 2005 --- Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) (TSE: 2914) today announced the results of its Japan Smoking Rate Survey, a study that has been carried-out annually since 1965. The survey, conducted in June 2005, showed that 29.2 percent of Japanese adults are smokers. Other results are summarized below.

Japanese smoking rate as of June 2005

	Smoking rate (%)	Change since last year
Men	45.8	-1.1 percentage points
Women	13.8	0.6 percentage points
Total adult smoking population	29.2	-0.2 percentage points

Smoking population (estimate)

(Unit: millions)

	2005	2004	Annual change
Men	22.81	23.28	-0.47
Women	7.39	7.04	0.35
Total	30.20	30.32	-0.12

Note:

Figures were prepared on the basis of an adult population of 49.81 million men and 53.58 million women using figures from the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications as of April 1, 2005.

Outline of the 2005 Japan smoking rate survey
The survey was conducted in June 2005 using a stratified two-stage sampling, mailed to 16,000 adult men and women nationwide. JT collected 10,391 (64.9 percent) valid responses of the total population surveyed.

Sample age ranges
Percentages: Proportion of sample group
Figures (bottom right of each box): Sample size (number of valid respondents)

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60+

Total

Men

19.4%

1,064

14.9%

820

15.9%

872

19.9%

1,093

29.9%

1,642

100.0%

5,491

Women

11.7%

573

17.2%

845

16.5%

808

20.4%

999

34.2%

1,675

100.0%

4,900

Total

15.8%

1,637

16.0%

1,665

16.2%

1,680

20.1%

2,092

31.9%

3,317

100.0%

10,391

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Japan Tobacco Inc. is the world’s third largest international manufacturer of tobacco products. The company manufactures internationally recognized cigarette brands including Camel, Winston, Mild Seven and Salem. Since its privatization in 1985, JT has actively diversified its operations into pharmaceuticals and foods. The company’s net sales were JPY 4.664 trillion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005.