Digitization and operational efficiency are behind the widespread reduction in counter time in local governments across the country.

There is a growing movement among local governments across the country to shorten the hours at which counters respond to residents. Previously, the hours were often adjusted to match employees' working hours, but by shortening the hours, overtime work required for preparation and cleanup will be reduced, reducing the burden and freeing up time for policy consideration. This is because the digitalization of counter operations, such as the spread of convenience store issuance services, is making it easier to improve efficiency.

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Higashiura Town, Aichi Prefecture, started a trial in February 2025 to change the hours from 8:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., based on the results of a survey showing that 90% of visitors were concentrated between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. In order to ensure a longer morning meeting time, starting from April this year, the hours have been changed from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In Aichi Prefecture, approximately 80% of municipalities have decided to shorten their counter hours, including plans to introduce or trial the measures by January next year. A notable number of local governments have shortened the time by 1 hour and 45 minutes.

This movement is spreading across the country, with cities such as Kashiwazaki City in Niigata Prefecture, Maniwa City in Okayama Prefecture, and Hioki City in Kagoshima Prefecture reducing their travel time by 1 hour and 45 minutes. Tachikawa City in Tokyo, which is scheduled to implement the measures starting November 11th of this year, says it will use the freed-up time to improve its operations and consider issues.

The reason behind this reduction in time is that the environment for digitalization of counter operations has been improved. Convenience store issuance of resident cards using My Number cards has become widespread, and there are now more cases in which residents do not have to visit a counter in person. In parallel with shortening the time, many local governments are also working on reducing the fee for convenience store delivery, and Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, which will shorten the fee by 1 hour and 15 minutes starting in December, will charge a flat rate of 10 yen for a one-year trial period.

Among the local governments that saw a reduction of 1 hour and 45 minutes, in Konan City, Aichi Prefecture, overtime hours for all employees were reduced by 2,101 hours, or 7.7%, compared to the previous year in the six months from October 2025 to March of this year. Mayor Kazunobu Sawada praised the project as having had a "considerable effect." A person in charge of the Human Resources and Secretarial Division in the prefecture's Kota Town emphasized the reduction in psychological burden, saying, ``We've received positive feedback from staff who work at the counters, saying, ``I feel less stressed because I don't have to work as much overtime in the evenings.''