Online games connecting Japan’s kids in pandemic era, but addiction worries rising

December 14, 2021 iGaming & Gambling

OSAKA — In the long months of the coronavirus pandemic, with people encouraged to stay in and socially distance, Japan’s children turned increasingly to the virtual communities of online games to stay in touch with friends. At the same time, some critics worry that children have come to rely too much on the games.

An 8-year-old boy in the third grade, with a mask dangling from one of his ears, held a tablet in his hand. He was moving the characters on the screen with his fingers and communicating in English with a friend, who was far from the boy’s home in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture. The boy’s 48-year-old mother watched over him, smiling.

The boy had moved to Toyonaka in June 2020 after spending some 3 years in the southern U.S. state of Georgia, due to his father’s work. His school has not had any temporary closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he is expected to avoid the three C’s: closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings. There was a long period when he couldn’t play with his new friends even when he wanted to.