Forest fires affect both carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling in forest ecosystems, and thereby influence the soil-atmosphere exchange of major greenhouse gases (GHGs): carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). To determine changes in the soil GHG fluxes following a forest fire, we arranged a low-intensity surface fire in a white birch forest in northern Japan. We established three treatments, having four replications each: a control plot (CON), a burned plot (BURN), and a plot burned with removal of the resulting charcoal (BURN-CHA). Soil GHG fluxes and various properties of the soil were determined on four or five occasions during a period that spanned two growing seasons. We observed increased concentrations of ammonium-N (NH4-N) in BURN and BURN-CHA after the fire, while nitrate-N (NO3-N) concentration was only increased in BURN-CHA after the fire. The soil CO2 flux was significantly higher in CON than in BURN or BURN-CHA, but there was no difference in soil CH4 uptake between the three treatments. Moreover, the N2O flux from BURN-CHA soil was slightly greater than in CON or BURN. In BURN-CHA, the soil N2O flux peaked in August, but there was no peak in BURN. We found temporal correlations between soil GHG fluxes and soil variables, e.g. soil temperature or NO3-N. Our results suggest that environmental changes following fire, including the increased availability of N and the disappearance of the litter layer, have the potential to change soil GHG fluxes. Fire-produced charcoal could be significant in reducing soil N2O flux in temperate forests. © Springer-Verlag 2011.