There's no smoke without fire, as they say. And this maxim was never more true than in the contentious issue of whether ashtrays on city streets serve a wider purpose.

In some Tokyo municipalities, smokers can no longer puff away with impunity in public.

In Shinjuku, ward office officials said they used to be inundated with complaints from nonsmokers about ashtrays on the streets.

People typically griped that the ashtrays encouraged smokers to light up. Often, ashtrays brimming with discarded cigarette butts would smolder and catch fire. Fire trucks had to be dispatched to extinguish them.

Fed up, ward officials finally removed all 300 ashtrays at JR Shinjuku and Takadanobaba stations last year and instead set up five zones for smoking.

The ploy seems to have worked.

``Littering caused by discarded cigarette butts doesn't seem to have increased,'' said Jun Sugihara, chief of Shinjuku Ward's environment preservation department.

In 1997, the ward set up ashtray stands at station squares and other public places in an effort to stop smokers flicking cigarette butts on sidewalks.

A new ordinance outlawing such littering seems to have convinced smokers that the authorities are not just blowing smoke.

Still, it ignited even more complaints.

But since the ashtrays were removed, there have been fewer complaints about smoking, Sugihara said.

Elsewhere in the Tokyo metropolitan area, officials remain split on the merits of ashtrays on sidewalks.

Chiyoda Ward was the first to remove all ashtrays from the streets of its entertainment districts. And in 2002, the ward passed an ordinance that bans smoking on the streets, subjecting violators to fines.

Railroad companies in the Tokyo metropolitan area also have begun removing ashtrays from station platforms. But many smokers still want ashtrays around stations.

Officials in Chiyoda Ward's environment department turned down the idea.

``If we did that, it would give the wrong impression that smoking is permitted around ashtrays if we placed them there,'' said an official.

But like many things in life, there is a trade-off.

Yokohama removed about 1,900 ashtrays from bus stops and other areas in June 2003. A recent city survey found that cigarette-butt litter increased around some bus stops afterward.

In contrast, some municipal governments are installing more ashtrays.

Tokyo's Toshima Ward in 2001 agreed with local shopping malls to start a system of leasing ward-owned ashtrays. Shopping mall association members are responsible for keeping the ashtrays clean.

The system is welcomed by shopping mall associations, who regard it as an effective way to reduce litter.

Ashtray stands throughout the ward-mostly in the buzzing Ikebukuro district-have since surged to 486.

There are still complaints, but Isao Sano, the ward's recycling promotion department chief, asks citizens to show their understanding.

``Once we remove ashtrays, I'm afraid the streets would become dirty right away,'' he says.

Tokyo's Chuo Ward, where street smoking is now banned, also allows ashtrays near shopping malls such as in Ginza.

In such cases, mall associations have agreed to install ashtrays away from crowded places such as street crossings and subway entrances.

``We still need a certain number of ashtrays,'' said an official at the ward's environment preservation department.

Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) supports the efforts to provide ashtrays on streets.

It donated equipment for the five smoking areas near JR Shinjuku and Takadanobaba stations in Shinjuku Ward. The tobacco giant also maintains and cleans them on behalf of the ward office. JT also donated the ashtrays that shopping malls in Ikebukuro and elsewhere lease from Toshima Ward.

``There needs to be a certain number of ashtrays at crowded places as long as many smokers do not carry portable ashtrays,'' says a social environment department official at JT. ``We seek to co-exist with nonsmokers. So we will actively cooperate with municipal governments.''

But Bungaku Watanabe, head of the Tobacco Problems Information Center, insists every ashtray must be cleared from the streets.

``Many smokers think about quitting, but can't resist it when they see an ashtray,'' said Watanabe, 67. ``So why put ashtrays on the streets? It's anachronistic.

``Many tourist areas became cleaner by removing trash boxes,'' he added. ``It must be hard (for smokers) to throw cigarette butts on clean streets when there are no ashtrays.''

Not so, says Koichiro Kimura, 43, author of ``Let me smoke!'' published in 2002.

``We need public ashtrays for the same reason we need public restrooms,'' he said, arguing that smoking is a physiological response. ``If there are ashtrays on the street, smokers tend to think, `Let's smoke here and hold off after that.' So, those who smoke while walking will decline.''(IHT/Asahi: March 2,2005)