Tokyo (AFP)

Can political authorities decide how much time children spend on screens? No, says a Japanese teenager who has decided to fight in court to defend his right to play video games as much as he wants.

Wataru, 17 years old, has indeed chosen to contest at the judicial level, with the support of his mother and a lawyer, a decision by the prefecture of Kagawa (west) aiming to limit the time spent on this fun activity by children 60 minutes daily on school days, 90 minutes during holidays.

As part of this regulation, which is not binding, these local officials also want to set up a sort of digital curfew by prohibiting the use of the smartphone after 9 p.m. for children 12 to 15 years old, after 10 p.m. for those from 15 to 18 years old.

"The time that children can spend playing or on a smartphone falls under family rules, it is not the responsibility of the government", argues Wataru, to explain his action, "I think it is not normal that an administrative authority intervenes in the life of families ".

If the young man claims not to be a compulsive gambler, he explains however that he was deprived of access, because of these new measures, to online servers on which he tried to connect after 22:00.

For him, these guidelines are not based on "any scientific reality. They are based on the preconceived idea that video games inevitably cause addictive behavior and lead to absenteeism".

"However, it can be completely the opposite, absenteeism can be linked to problems at school for example and, for some, playing is then the only way to find a form of appeasement," adds Wataru.

The adolescent is not alone in his fight: nearly 600 people have signed a petition against these rules.

Proposed in January, the measure was supported by the local assembly, which validated it in March, thus becoming the first of its kind in the Japanese archipelago.

Questioned by AFP, Wataru's lawyer, Tomishi Sakka, believes that these rules violate the Japanese Constitution, which guarantees free will.

According to Wataru, they are just another attempt to limit children's right to have fun.

"On many playgrounds, it is forbidden to play football, some even prohibit any type of ball. Can we just have the right to have fun?" Asked the boy.

© 2020 AFP