By YOSHINOBU MATSUNAGA/ Staff Writer
September 17, 2025 at 16:25 JST
A Toyoake municipal assembly committee deliberates a measure on Sept. 16 to restrict smartphone use. (Yoshinobu Matsunaga)
TOYOAKE, Aichi Prefecture—A municipal assembly committee here on Sept. 16 passed an ordinance asking that residents restrict smartphone use to two hours a day.
The measure will go before the entire assembly on Sept. 22 and if passed would take effect from Oct. 1.
It would be the first local ordinance restricting smartphone use.
The measure calls on households to establish rules limiting leisure smartphone use to two hours a day. It also suggested that elementary school students stop use by 9 p.m. and that other students under 18 lock their screens by 10 p.m.
The ordinance is not legally binding and there are no penalties for noncompliance.
After the committee session, Mayor Masafumi Kouki told reporters, “The misunderstanding that this limits smartphone use to two hours a day has taken on a life of its own. We will increase efforts to raise awareness that this is about obtaining adequate time for sleep.”
The measure passed the committee by a 4-3 vote.
Those in favor said it was significant because it would help protect the "lifestyle environment" of children, but those opposed said it was wrong for the local government to become involved in a private matter.
The committee also passed a supplementary measure calling for periodic review of the ordinance to determine if it was effective and to judge how residents were responding to it.
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