The smoking area thing isn't a shaming technique. Japan is (or at one point was) the only first world nation where smoking is not on the decline. Tokyo is pretty dense, so the smoking areas is a way to keep people from getting burned on the street. If you think about it, an adult holding a cigarette down low is eye-height for a toddler. Smoking in Japan is a very sedentary activity, too. You'll see it, but it's not very common for people to walk and smoke at the same time.
Smoking is very much on the decline in Japan. It's still much more common than in the West (eg. smoking rooms in hotels are still a thing), but it has vastly improved since 2000 or so.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g298184-i861-k6165919-A...