A proposed ban on indoor smoking will be postponed at least until this fall, as the health ministry and ruling Liberal Democratic Party could not work out their differences in time to submit the bill in the current Diet session.
Government and party sources said Monday that the ministry and the LDP still cannot agree on what kinds of eating and drinking establishments should be designated as exceptions to an indoor smoking ban.
The current Diet session is set to end on June 18, after which an extraordinary Diet session is expected to be convened in the fall.