Korea, Japan, Hong Kong: Same Optical Shop, Why Such Different Licences?
In Seoul, to buy lenses you go to an optical shop.
In Tokyo, you can go to an optical shop, a lens specialist, or a shop next to an eye clinic.
In Hong Kong, whether you can be fitted for lenses depends on which grade the shop's optometrist is registered in.
Same product, same kind of shop, different experience.
The reason is not the shop. It is the licensing system.
Korea: opticians became a national licence in 1987
In Korea, an optician is a "medical technologist."
Opticians sit in the same law (the Medical Service Technologists Act) as physiotherapists and radiographers.
That happened on 28 November 1987.
Before that, glasses and contact lenses were treated as medical supplies under the pharmacy law, and selling them was a matter of registration.
In 1983 two-year college programmes in ophthalmic optics opened; in 1987 the law changed; and in 1989 the first national optician examination was held.
From 2002 the programmes became three years, and four-year university and graduate programmes followed.
The defining feature is exclusive practice.
Without an optician's licence, you cannot open an optical shop.
And one more thing.
Korea prohibits by law the sale of glasses and contact lenses online or by mail order (Article 12(5) of the same Act).
Whether that clause violates the constitution went to the Constitutional Court, which on 28 March 2024 ruled it constitutional by 8 votes to 1.
The law protects a structure in which an optician looks at your eyes and sells to you in person.
Japan: with or without a qualification, you can sell
Japan is close to the opposite.
There is no national licence required to make and sell glasses.
For a long time there was only a private credential run by the industry body, the "certified optician" (認定眼鏡士), started in 2001.
In April 2022, something changed.
"Eyeglass making" was added to the national skills-testing system overseen by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, creating the Eyeglass Making Technician (眼鏡作製技能士), grades 1 and 2.
In its first year, 6,089 people passed.
But this is a protected title, not a protected practice.
Call yourself an Eyeglass Making Technician without passing, and you are penalised.
Do not use the title, and you can make and sell glasses with no qualification at all.
That is the difference between Korea's "exclusive practice" and Japan's "exclusive title."
Contact lenses are a little different. In Japan they are "specially controlled medical devices," so a shop needs a sales licence to sell them. Even so, a prescription is not a legal requirement. That story is in Japan Lets You Buy Contact Lenses Without a Prescription.
Hong Kong: optometrists in four parts
Since 1994, Hong Kong has registered optometrists under the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Cap. 359).
The register is divided into four parts.
| Register | What they may do |
|---|---|
| Part I | University-trained. Comprehensive eye examinations, prescribing glasses and contact lenses, and use of diagnostic drugs |
| Part II | Vision assessment, prescribing glasses and contact lenses. Diagnostic drugs limited to staining agents |
| Part III | Vision assessment and prescribing glasses. Not contact lenses |
| Part IV | Provisional register. Vision assessment and glasses; only some may prescribe contact lenses |
So to be fitted for lenses at a Hong Kong optical shop, the shop needs a Part I or Part II optometrist.
The optometrist's part on the register is the answer to "can I get lenses fitted here."
There is a gap, though. In a 2018 reply to the Legislative Council, the Hong Kong government acknowledged that "the law does not impose any restrictions on the sale of contact lenses by persons who are not registered healthcare professionals." A registered optometrist must supply on prescription, but nothing in the law stops a non-optometrist from selling. The government said it was preparing legislation to bring lenses under medical device control.
Three places in one table
| Korea | Japan | Hong Kong | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nature of the qualification | National licence (exclusive practice) | National certification (exclusive title) | Registration (four grades) |
| Selling glasses without a qualification | Not allowed | Allowed | Eye examination and prescribing by registered optometrists only |
| Online sale of contact lenses | Prohibited | Allowed with a sales licence | No restriction on unregistered sellers (per 2018 government reply) |
| Prescription | Optician examines and sells | Not legally required | Required when an optometrist supplies |
Same lenses, same kind of shop, different rules.
So what changes for you
This is why a Korean in a Tokyo lens shop asks, "Aren't you going to examine me?"
why a Japanese customer in a Seoul optical shop asks, "Why is there no online option?"
and why a Hong Konger in either place asks, "Which Part is this optometrist?"
None of the systems is the right one.
But when you buy lenses while travelling or after moving abroad, the first step is not to assume the optical shop there is the same as the one at home.
Taiwan is different again. See Why Taiwan Limits Contact Lens Imports to 60 Lenses.
How to read the prescription itself is in Six Codes Hidden on One Sheet of Paper.
References
- A Study on the Standard of Optician National Licensing Examination by Job Analysis, J Educ Eval Health Prof — the 1987 amendment, the first examination in 1989, programmes opened in 1983
- Korea Law Information Center, Medical Service Technologists Act, Article 12(5) — ban on e-commerce and mail-order sale of glasses and contact lenses
- Money Today, Constitutional Court: ban on online contact lens sales is constitutional (Korean, 2 Apr 2024)
- Japan Optician Association, 眼鏡作製技能士 — the 2022 national certification, grades 1 and 2
- GLAFAS, First cohort of Eyeglass Making Technicians: 6,089 pass (Japanese)
- Hong Kong Society of Professional Optometrists, What is an Optometrist? — registration since 1994, Parts I–IV
- Hong Kong Government, LCQ13: Regulation of the sale of contact lenses (28 Nov 2018) — no restriction on unregistered sellers; medical device legislation in preparation
This article provides general information. Each system may be amended; the content here is as of the referenced publications. Wherever you are, use contact lenses under the examination and prescription of an eye-care professional.