Japan to conduct 1st major survey on myopia among schoolchildren

when I arrived in Japan close to three decades ago I noticed that a lot of kids wore glasses.... since then. there has been an ever-increasing number, even very young kids, wearing glasses.... more common to see them with, than without.

there, saved you all that money for the survey

I thought that research shows it's related to going outside? Corollary was that the less sunglight you receive as a kid the higher the glasses usage.

My kids have a yearly eye test at elementary and junior high. Doesn't that happen in Tokyo too?

Yearly eye tests are a good idea for young kids. They often don't realize they have a problem. My brother struggled at junior school. One day my Dad asked him to read a number plate of a car a few metres down the road and he couldn't. Turned out he was shortsighted and had trouble reading the blackboard. As he didn't know any differently, he had just assumed it was the same for everyone.

Like jiji Xx said above, when I came here in the 90s before the comp/Internet revolution, about 30% of all the kids in my classes wore glasses. I was really surprised considering that only about 5-10% of the kids I taught in JHS in the States wore them.

I always put it down to the Japanese kids having to look really closely at the tiny kanji written in their textbooks. I also noticed that they really put their faces close to the paper when writing kanji too. Lots of little lines.

Blue light from comps/smartphones also contributes to bad eye-sight but the J kids have had this problem for years.

https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/article/myopia-screen-time-not-linked

Research results are mixed so it is currently inconclusive whether or not screen time causes myopia. Further research is necessary.

I edit medical papers and translate seminars and conferences on eye surgery, myopia, and a various array of conditions.

i can provide many peer reviewed papers about the links between lockdowns and computer based home learning.

i also research the effects of extended use of electronically devises on children’s social and psychical development.

Children need to spend extended time periods in natural sunlight.

Children need to spend extended time periods in natural sunlight.

That’s something I would equally disagree to as to that really too excessive use of computers, phones and similar devices.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5599950/

However, the dose–response analysis indicated that while an increase in the time spent outdoors could result in greater protection against myopia onset, it did not result in slowing the progression of myopia in eyes that were already myopic.

So it seems children should spend relatively more time outdoors in order to proactively reduce the chances of developing myopia.

Even in WW2 propaganda Japanese were caricatured as wearing Coke bottle glasses, so they've long been known for being a proportionally short-sighted nation.