Overview

• After online backlash, Mayor Masafumi Koki stressed the guidance is not mandatory and carries no penalties, saying smartphones are considered indispensable in daily life.
• The draft advises primary students to avoid phones after 9 p.m. and recommends secondary students and older refrain after 10 p.m.
• If approved in next week’s municipal vote, the ordinance would apply to the city’s roughly 70,000 residents and take effect in October.
• Officials point to a March survey showing Japanese youths average about five hours online each day as a rationale for the proposal.
• The initiative follows earlier local efforts such as Kagawa Prefecture’s 2020 ordinance urging limits on minors’ gaming and evening screen use.