Opinion is split over an ordinance that came into force in Kagawa Prefecture in April this year, calling for children's online game-playing to be limited to one hour a day. There are more than a few unusual ordinances created by local governments -- what's the background behind the creation of these strange rules?
--Long history of local rules
"Both parties face the death penalty for a quarrel," and "you should not say this or that in front of your feudal lord when you get drunk."
These are neither jokes nor complaints. They are some of the laws established by feudal lords and other rulers to control their domains. The death penalty rule is said to have been established by the Imagawa clan of Suruga (present-day central Shizuoka Prefecture), and the one about remarks to a feudal lord by the Yuki clan of Shimousa (presently an area extending from northern Chiba Prefecture to southern Ibaraki Prefecture).
Such measures continued to the Edo period (1603-1867). Feudal lords established a variety of laws applicable to their domains, in line with autonomous criminal punishments promulgated by the Edo shogunate.
Today, ordinances are established by prefectural and municipal governments to realize their policies for areas under their jurisdiction. They are based on the Constitution and the Local Autonomy Law, and their relationship is similar to that between the Edo-period law on autonomous criminal punishments and the laws of individual domains.
Establishment of an ordinance can be initiated only by the heads of prefectures and municipalities, or their assembly members. Promulgation of the ordinances requires approval by prefectural or municipal assemblies.
Penalties and fines can be incorporated into ordinances, and it's also possible for residents to call for establishing or abolishing ordinances if a certain number of signatures can be collected.
-- Online gaming
The official name of the gaming ordinance in Kagawa Prefecture can be translated as "the ordinance on measures to deal with online game addiction." It was established as a result of a campaign launched by a local media organization in January last year.
Due to an increase in public support for the campaign, boards of education and schools introduced independent measures, including giving lessons at school and conducting questionnaires among students as part of education on online game addiction.
Targeted at students under 18, the ordinance calls for individual households to set rules on game-playing hours. A bill for the ordinance was submitted by a prefectural assembly member last March, and it was approved by the prefectural assembly by a majority vote.
Even when the ordinance bill was drafted, there was criticism that the legislation would constitute "interference in family affairs." The prefectural assembly member who led the move to establish the ordinance said emphatically that regulation was "a big issue to be tackled, as we had received requests for consultations from students' guardians for a long time."
The proposed playing time "is nothing but a yardstick and there are no penal requirements," the member added.
Many unique ordinances have emerged amid conditions specific to a particular region, aimed at promoting regional development and industries.
An ordinance in Kyoto City commonly called "Seishu de Kanpai Jorei" (Toasting with sake ordinance) has been promulgated for the promotion of Japanese sake. Kyoto has various sake brewing areas, including Fushimi.
Izumisano City of Osaka Prefecture has an ordinance for promoting the local specialty of watarigani blue crabs, calling on citizens to make a "crab pose" (peace signs with both hands near the face) when their pictures are taken.
-- Ahead of national laws
In some cases, ordinances have dealt with social issues before national legislation did.
The ordinance commonly known as "Ringo Marukajiri Jorei" (Ordinance calling for producing safe apples) that was enforced in 2002 in the town of Itayanagi, Aomori Prefecture, was introduced in the wake of an incident in which local apple farmers used unregistered agricultural chemicals.
The municipal government set up a system to obtain records of farmers' use of agricultural chemicals, making it possible to trace the process from production to distribution and consumption. A similar system for rice was adopted by law eight years later.
The Kagoshima prefectural government enacted an ordinance to regulate stalking and covert photography a year before the nationwide antistalking law came into effect, after there was a problem with public servants covertly taking photos.
In Tottori Prefecture, an ordinance banning discrimination against and defamation toward people infected with the novel coronavirus was established in August.
Nobuo Sasaki, professor emeritus of Chuo University and an expert on local autonomy, said: "Ordinances form the basis of local autonomy. Local governments' stance of promptly dealing with regional issues can be praised. However, it does not make any sense if the final objective is enacting an ordinance. The question is what should be done with an ordinance."
When it was natural to exile criminals more than 250 years ago, the Kumamoto domain attached importance to their rehabilitation and instituted its own punishment system based on the domain's law to pay criminals who were compelled to work on civil engineering and other projects.
Such thinking forms the core of the contemporary punishment system. Will distinctive ordinances in various parts of the country today likewise impress the people of the distant future?
-- 340,000 ordinances nationwide
How many ordinances exist across the nation? The exact number is not known because there are no official records available, not even from the central government.
A survey conducted by Prof. Tokuyasu Kakuta of Chuo University, who specializes in legal informatics, estimates that there are about 340,000 ordinances across the nation. Regulations, including rules and guidelines that stipulate detailed procedures and other matters for the implementation of ordinances, number at least about 1.32 million.
The number of ordinances tends to increase in proportion to the population of a prefecture or a city. Municipalities in Tokyo dominate the top rankings in this respect, but Izumo City of Shimane Prefecture ranks fifth. "I don't know why," an official in charge at the municipal government said with a doubtful look.
Amid the huge number of ordinances that have been instituted, there are difficulties in disseminating information.
Local governments differ in how they publish ordinances and to what extent. Therefore, there are cases in which ordinances cannot be seen online.
Prof. Kakuta spoke of the importance of disseminating information, saying: "There are ordinances that are strongly binding legally. From the viewpoint of democracy, too, it's essential to have a positive attitude toward providing information for residents."
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