Smoking in Japan continues to be fairly popular, but smoking in public is often banned depending on the location. Many cities do not allow smoking on their major streets, with dedicated smoking areas or smoking rooms available to those who use tobacco. This is true on many ski resorts well, with tobacco use limited to specific rooms and completely banned on the slopes.
This Japanese snowboarder was apparently fed up with Australian tourists breaking the rules and norms, so when he saw and Australian woman smoking out in public he absolutely lost it on her. It seems likely that something was lost in translation or he assumed the woman was being insincere with her apology, because he truly went from fairly calm to raging in a split second.
In my own experience, the Japanese locals at ski resorts throughout the country are generally incredibly kind and polite. This guy was probably just having a bad day. And frankly I think there’s a good chance that the woman did know smoking wasn’t allowed and chose to play dumb, as the rule is usually posted everywhere.
