{"id":6357,"date":"2026-04-24T08:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/?p=6357"},"modified":"2026-04-24T08:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:11:06","slug":"rm-faces-smoking-allegations-in-japan-stirring-fans-after-past-appeal-for-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/?p=6357","title":{"rendered":"RM Faces Smoking Allegations in Japan, Stirring Fans After Past Appeal for Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"RM\" height=\"1474\" src=\"https:\/\/image.xportsnews.com\/contents\/images\/upload\/article\/2026\/0424\/1776960810060238.jpg\" width=\"1200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>BTS member RM faces allegations of smoking in non-smoking areas in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun, which reported on the 22nd (local time), witnesses saw RM smoking several times in non-smoking areas while moving between izakayas and bars in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, enjoying drinks with acquaintances.<\/p>\n<p>The magazine reported that RM stayed at a certain establishment in Shibuya for about three hours and left around 1 a.m. Although there was no designated smoking area inside the building, the magazine said RM and his party smoked in clearly marked non-smoking areas in the hallway.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, a security guard managing the building reportedly approached RM and warned him, but he continued smoking.<\/p>\n<p>The magazine also criticized RM&#8217;s handling of the cigarette butts. His party allegedly discarded them directly on the floor, and a female staff member had to pick them up on her knees.<\/p>\n<p>Photos showing RM smoking with an acquaintance and staff members cleaning the floor were released, prompting criticism of RM&#8217;s actions.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, BTS&#8217;s agency Big Hit Music has not made a statement regarding the reports about RM in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>This situation has caused a stir among fans.<\/p>\n<p>BTS recently held the &#8216;BTS WORLD TOUR &#8216;ARIRANG&#8221; at the Goyang Sports Complex Main Stadium from March 9th to 12th, meeting with local fans. During the concert, RM appealed for fans&#8217; trust, saying, &#8220;We are all over thirty. We decided to work together as independent entities to continue doing what we love for a long time,&#8221; and added, &#8220;Please trust us and enjoy our growth. Just trust us once more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>RM&#8217;s statement continued his previous remarks during a live broadcast in December last year, where he contemplated disbanding the team. At that time, RM said, &#8220;Anyway, we have to move forward. We contemplated thousands of times whether it would be better to disband or to take a break,&#8221; drawing significant attention.<\/p>\n<p>As the leader of BTS, RM is known for his candidness and commands great trust from the members and fans alike.<\/p>\n<p>However, regarding the recent smoking incident in Japan, fans are expressing disappointment with comments like, &#8220;Couldn&#8217;t he have just smoked in the designated area?&#8221;, &#8220;Is he just a leader in words?&#8221;, &#8220;It&#8217;s difficult to follow basics while pretending to be aware and then smoking on the street,&#8221; and &#8220;I am disappointed in RM, who was considered the BTS brain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Image source: Xportsnews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BTS member RM faces allegations of smoking in non-smoking areas in Japan. According to the Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun, which reported on the 22nd (local time), witnesses saw RM smoking several times in non-smoking areas while moving between izakayas and bars in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, enjoying drinks with acquaintances. The magazine reported [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[44,1316,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-6357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issue","8":"tag-bts","9":"tag-japan","10":"tag-rm"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-135.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6359,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6357\/revisions\/6359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bongonakpop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}