A government district in Japan has issued an order to reduce the time spent by young people at computers and smartphones to one hour. Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada sharply criticizes the prefectural plan.
In order to get a supposed internet addiction among young people under control, the Japanese prefecture of Kagawa has imposed a time limit on the use of computer games and smartphones by under-18s since April 1.
The so-called “Net Game Addiction Measures Ordinance” is intended to set a time limit for minors of a maximum of 60 minutes on weekdays and 90 minutes on public holidays.
In addition, children under 16 years of age will only be allowed to use these media until 9 p.m. Older adolescents are to be allowed to use the media until 10 p.m. The regulation does not, however, provide for penalties for non-compliance with the rules, but makes parents responsible for enforcing them.
Tekken developers: Regulation will have negative effect on Japanese culture
Katsuhiro Harada has reacted to the regulation with extremely harsh criticism. In his opinion, parents were looking for a scapegoat for their own inability to raise their children properly.
The new Kagawa law goes into effect on Today.
A parent who did NOT grow up wisely found a scapegoat for not being able to educate their children wisely.—-
Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture Passes Law Striving to Limit Gaming for Minors to 1 Hour Per Day https://t.co/Ojd6bGion3— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) April 1, 2020
The people in charge had “a boring spirit that could not give children great ideas and inspiration”. Harada does not believe that the regulation will cause economic damage, but he fears “a negative effect on Japanese culture”.
"Sold millions of units title" by Japanese game companies are sold mainly in the US & Euro markets (ex. TK7= 5million units worldwide but Japan has less than 4%).
So this ordinance has no effect on us. However, it has a negative effect on Japanese culture.https://t.co/C7e1Q9bZxV— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) April 1, 2020
Esport should finally be able to keep up in Japan
In fact, on the same day the Japanese government announced its intention to support the sport in Japan. By 2025, the video game industry is expected to generate 2.6 billion US dollars in sales per year.
Although the Japanese video game market is the third largest in the world with a turnover of 18.6 billion US dollars, the esport scene in Japan had a difficult start. A law prevented prize money of more than 900 US dollars from being distributed if a product was advertised with it at the same time. It is only in the last two years that licenses for professional athletes have been available to collect more than 900 US dollars in prize money.
Such a project in Germany would set the sport back a long way. Major national leagues and tournaments such as the ESL Championships or the LEC would be unthinkable without the young talents, who could hardly train with an hour of playing time.
