A "No Game" campaign spearheaded by educators in Hokkaido has backfired after being perceived as an attempt to label video games as harmful to students.
The Hokkaido Board of Education, one of the organizers of the campaign, was alerted to the mishap by calls from bewildered people. It is now scrambling to explain what it says was a poorly executed attempt to prevent digital media addiction.
The campaign started in late December as part of a broader initiative by a group of 20 education-related institutions and associations in the prefecture, including the board, to eradicate Internet-related troubles affecting schoolchildren and prevent them from becoming addicted.