Korea vs Japan: 7 Smoking Rule Differences Visitors Notice (2026)

Indoors: the exemption is the whole story

The single biggest surprise for Korean visitors is walking into a small Japanese izakaya or older coffee shop and finding ashtrays on the tables. In Korea that combination disappeared in stages and ended completely on 1 January 2015, when the size threshold was removed and the special transition period for smoking seats in places such as coffee chains expired (source: Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare). Japan reached the "indoors is non-smoking by default" position later, in April 2020, and wrote a transitional measure into the law for small restaurants that were already trading at that point. Those venues may operate a "smoking-permitted room", where cigarettes and food and drink are both allowed (source: MHLW https://jyudokitsuen.mhlw.go.jp/smoking_room/). It is an exception, not the norm — and the only reliable way to know is the sign at the entrance.

The other three Japanese room types behave differently again. A sealed smoking room allows smoking but no food or drink. A heated-tobacco-only room allows heated tobacco devices, and food and drink are permitted. A smoking-purpose room, found in venues whose main business is smoking, permits food and drink other than a main meal. All four are off limits to anyone under 20, staff included, and every facility with smoking equipment must display the designated sign (source: MHLW https://jyudokitsuen.mhlw.go.jp/).

Smoking rooms: furniture is the tell

Korean smoking rooms are designed as sealed spaces that vent to the outside, must carry a sign identifying them as smoking rooms, and may not contain business equipment such as personal computers or tables in addition to ashtrays (Enforcement Rule of the National Health Promotion Act, Article 6(4) and Table 2; source: https://www.easylaw.go.kr/CSP/CnpClsMain.laf?csmSeq=908). The design intent is a place to smoke and leave. Japanese heated-tobacco-only rooms and smoking-permitted rooms, by contrast, are places where people sit down with a drink. If you are used to the Korean model, expect to spend longer inside a Japanese one — and expect the sign to tell you which rules apply.

Outdoors: same structure, different local answers

Neither country bans street smoking through a single national statute. In Korea, local governments designate outdoor non-smoking areas by ordinance — Seoul, for example, covers roadside bus stops within 10 metres, subway entrances within 10 metres, and city-managed parks (source: Seoul Metropolitan Government https://news.seoul.go.kr/welfare/archives/243465). Japan works the same way through municipal ordinances, but the boundaries, the fines and the presence of patrol staff vary from ward to ward. Our municipality-by-municipality guide to street smoking covers the detail, and you can find the nearest designated outdoor spot on the MottoSuitai map.

Penalties, ages and signs

• Korea: smoking in a designated non-smoking area carries an administrative fine of up to KRW 100,000 (National Health Promotion Act Article 34(3); source: Ministry of Government Legislation)
• Korea: a restaurant operator who allows indoor smoking faces an administrative fine of KRW 1.7 million (source: Ministry of Health and Welfare)
• Japan: smoking in a place where smoking is prohibited carries a non-penal fine of up to JPY 300,000, and facility managers face up to JPY 500,000 for breaching duties such as removing smoking equipment or displaying signs (source: MHLW https://jyudokitsuen.mhlw.go.jp/point/)
• Japan: street smoking in a restricted zone may additionally attract a fine under the local ordinance; amounts and zones differ by municipality
• Both: no one under 20 may enter a smoking area in Japan, even without intending to smoke, and this applies to staff as well as customers

One practical consequence of Japan's signage duty is that the absence of a sign is itself information: if a venue displays nothing, treat the indoor space as non-smoking. This is a third-party summary of MHLW and Korean government sources as of August 2026, written to help visitors follow the rules of the place they are in. It is not a judgement on either country's policy, it does not confirm whether any specific venue permits smoking, and it does not encourage smoking. Please check official sources for the current position.