Via Nikkei: Japan’s Kagawa Prefectural Assembly has recently enacted the “Internet Game Addiction Ordinance”, a local law that limited videogame time for players aged 18 and below to just one hour daily. This comes after Kagawa Prefecture lawmakers consulted 2,686 local individuals and groups in an attempt to curb gaming addiction among the youth.

For those under 18 years of age, videogame playtime is set to 60 minutes on school days and 90 minutes on holidays. The use of smartphones is limited until 9:00 pm for junior high school students and younger, and until to 10:00 pm for older teens until 18 years of age. When children use game consoles and smartphones, families are encouraged to make their own rules; there are no formal penalties tied to the law.

The law seeks to prevent game addiction amongst younger children and teens, whose health and schoolwork suffer from too much time spent on gaming, as well as falling victim to in-game micro-transactions which sometimes cost parent hundreds of thousands of yen in fees.