Japanese city passes two-hours-a-day smartphone usage ordinance
- Reference: 1758692469
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/09/24/japan_toyoake_smartphone_limitation_ordinance/
- Source link:
The council passed the [1]ordinance on Promoting the Proper Use of Smartphones [PDF] because it wants residents – and especially students returning to school – to get more sleep.
“The primary purpose of this ordinance is to ensure that all citizens receive adequate sleep,” states a Council [2]information page , which explains that many Japanese people ignore Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare recommendations to spend six to eight hours a day dozing. An accompanying [3]FAQ [PDF] explains that Council passed the ordinance because students who return to school after summer vacations sometimes need a nudge the re-establish an appropriate daily regime.
[4]
The ordinance also points out “Excessive phone users and their families are facing difficulties in their daily and social lives,” and suggests the two-hours-a-day guidance might help.
[5]Japan exploring whether AI could help inspect its nuclear power plants
[6]Asahi, Nikkei sue AI search outfit Perplexity for copyright infringement
[7]Not big in Japan: Apple's WebKit browser requirement may break new law
[8]Chromebook sales surged in Q2 thanks to Japanese schools
Council’s documents point out that smartphones have myriad uses beyond recreation, and that the ordinance should not be taken as a suggestion to reduce overall use of the devices.
Toyoake is part of the Nagoya megalopolis and is home to around 70,000 people. The town’s government plans to survey residents about the ordinance, and the FAQ also mentions it wants to tackle other digital menaces, among them harmful effects of using smartphones while walking.
[9]
The Register feels sure it speaks for all readers when we suggest the city of Toyoake ensures that any ordinance it passes on that subject is binding, policed, and punishable with extremely severe sanctions. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.city.toyoake.lg.jp/secure/31563/sumahojyoureibun.pdf
[2] https://www.city.toyoake.lg.jp/item/31563.htm#ContentPane
[3] https://www.city.toyoake.lg.jp/secure/31563/QA.pdf
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aNPBNAvpKGU-r-lMPx7ShwAAA04&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/28/japan_ai_for_nuclear_inspectiona/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/perplexity_asahi_nikkei_lawsuits/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/06/apples_webkit_rule_japan/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/05/canalys_reports_revitalization_of_chromebook/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNPBNAvpKGU-r-lMPx7ShwAAA04&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Phone Zombies
What really annoys me if I'm turning into or out of a road and giving way to a pedestrian as I should most of the time they don't even see me motioning them to cross.
Nose buried in phones and not paying any attention, always seem surprised when they look up and there is a car there waiting for them to cross.
And I'm pretty patient about such things, usually, although not according to my wife.
So I've wasted time trying to obey the law and be helpful and half the time missed a slot to turn out of the road so have to sit there and fume.
Re: Phone Zombies
"always seem surprised when they look up and there is a car there waiting for them to cross"
I find a carefully timed blast on the horn is usually sufficient to send their phone shooting out of their hands and into the sky in a fairly hilarious manner. When it then plunges into a grating the hilarity is of course increased.
Overreach
It is not the place of a city council to create such ordinances.
The entire council should resign and acknowledge that they far exceeded their remit.
Re: Overreach
I don't really see this as overreach - as far as I can tell (as a westerner), most laws like this are brought in with the people in mind. If the locals don't like the law, they will find a polite way to say so to their local officials.
For the record, I visited Japan earlier this year, and I saw plenty of "don't walk whilst using your phone" signs.
There were also a lot of "don't walk on escalators" signs!) So unlike london, where you scurry down the escalator to catch your train in the middle of a big scrum, in Japan, you stand on the escalator and then join a queue. If you're in rush hour, that polite queue will then try and entirely fit on the already busy train, and yes, some of the trains really do get *very* full - i.e. well beyond "full" for the tube or the commuter lines in and out of London.
And finally, quite apart from not walking whilst on your phone, "jaywalking" in Japan doesn't really seem to happen much, even on quiet back streets out in the suburbs.
Round here there is already an extremely severe sanction on using smartphones while walking.
Someone on an e-bike will snatch it out of your hand.
The Starmer Puppet Masters will love this.