Japan looks to shift minimum smoking age – down

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) yesterday postponed a decision on whether to lower the legal age for smoking and drinking, amid concerns about what effects the change would have on health and delinquency, according to a story in The Japan News.

An LDP task force yesterday adopted a proposal to revise the age of majority set out in the Civil Code from 20 or older to 18 or older.

But the task force failed to settle the question of whether the minimum age for drinking, smoking and state-managed gambling should be reduced.

According to the proposal, however, a decision should be reached on these matters by the time the Civil Code is revised to lower the age of majority.

The proposal came about after parliament in June passed a bill to lower the minimum voting age from 20 to 18.

The task force had considered a cut in the minimum age for smoking and drinking to 18, but met strong opposition from LDP members concerned about the possible adverse impacts of such a move.

In its proposal, the task force said it was appropriate to lower the minimum ages for these activities to 18 or younger, but it called on the government to consider introducing a probationary period for those aged 18 and 19.