Myopia prevention in Japan reaches a milestone

According to the Japanese government's own surveys, the share of schoolchildren who cannot read the standard vision chart with the naked eye has reached record highs. | AFLO

By Ryo Kubota

Contributing writer

Aug 30, 2026

Somewhere in Japan this spring, a child who could easily read the blackboard in first grade began squinting at it by third grade. In just two years, the child’s myopia had roughly tripled. We have come to treat this as an ordinary part of childhood — a visit to the optician, a first pair of glasses, and life goes on. But it is not ordinary. Myopia is a disease, and much of it is preventable.

A career in ophthalmology and medical research has meant watching this epidemic advance in slow motion while arguing — in a book, newspaper articles and peer-reviewed research — that its seriousness has been badly underestimated. But this summer, for the first time in the nation’s history, the government acknowledged the problem. Japan’s Basic Policy for 2026, the blueprint guiding the country’s economic and fiscal course, now includes language on preventing childhood myopia. After years of advocacy, that is a genuine milestone.

But it is only a starting point.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information,

quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

SUBSCRIBE NOW