Effects of the Ordinance Banning Walking Smartphones in Japan

The purpose of this article was to investigate whether the Sumida Ward ordinance was perceived as reducing the number of people walking on their phones. We visually measured the number of people walking on their smartphones on the sidewalk in front of the Starbuck's Termina 2 store at the north exit of JR Kinshicho Station. The survey was conducted on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., approximately two months before, one month before, one month after, two months after, and four months after the ordinance took effect on 1 October 2022 (Saturday). From two months before to four months after the enforcement date (1 October), the percentage of walking smartphone users was around 10% in both cases, with measurements taken from 11:00 to 12:00. From the results of the 13:00 measurements, the percentage was slightly higher on 27 August, two months before the enforcement date, at 9.4%, but remained around 8% in the other cases. The number of walking smartphone users was influenced by the number of passers-by, and the enforcement of the law had almost no effect on the number of walking smartphone users.