Aim The current study aimed to examine the effect of Japanese policies for appropriate hypnotics use and novel hypnotics (e.g. melatonin receptor agonist and orexin receptor antagonist ORA) on long‐term prescriptions of hypnotics. Methods This retrospective study was conducted using a large‐scale health insurance claims database. Among subscribers prescribed hypnotics at least once between April 2005 and March 2021, those prescribed hypnotics for the first time after being included in the database in three periods (period 1: April 2012–March 2013; period 2: April 2016–March 2017; and period 3: April 2018–March 2019) were eligible. These were set considering the timing of the 2014 and 2018 medical fee revisions (2014 for polypharmacy of three or more hypnotics, 2018 for long‐term prescription of benzodiazepine receptor agonists for >12 months). The duration of consecutive prescriptions of hypnotics over 12 months was evaluated. Factors associated with short‐term prescriptions of hypnotics were also investigated. Results In total, 186 535 participants were newly prescribed hypnotics. The mean duration of prescriptions was 2.9 months, and 9.3% of participants were prescribed hypnotics for 12 months. Prescription periods were not associated with short‐term prescriptions of hypnotics. ORA use was associated with short‐term prescriptions of hypnotics (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.077 95% confidence interval, 1.035–1.120; P < 0.001), but melatonin receptor agonist use was not. Conclusion Japanese policies had no statistically significant effect on long‐term prescriptions of hypnotics. Although this study suggests initiating ORA for insomniacs as a candidate strategy to prevent long‐term prescriptions of hypnotics, further research is necessary to draw conclusions.