Nipponica

Even after the full transition to My Number health insurance cards began in December last year, the usage rate has remained low, standing at 30.64% of all health insurance card and certificate uses through online eligibility confirmation as of June this year.

Many elderly individuals have been reluctant to adopt the new cards, as they are often unfamiliar with both facial recognition and the entry of personal ID numbers, one of which is required to use the system.

In addition, medical institutions have frequently reported cases in which My Number health insurance cards became unusable due to expired electronic certificates, according to the national federation of health insurance medical practitioners' associations.

I’ve said for a decade now that the problem with My Number is not with the tech, but instead with educating the public on how to use it and how it will improve their lives. The e-services themselves are quite excellent and are always improving. But if people don’t know how to access them, the whole endeavor is pointless

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday during his first visit to Japan since taking office, and the two leaders agreed to advance bilateral relations in a future-oriented manner.

Lee’s decision to visit Japan before visiting the United States, Seoul’s ally, for bilateral diplomacy is highly unusual. In fact, it has not previously happened in the 60 years since Japan and South Korea normalized diplomatic relations.

It is abundantly clear that East Asian powers should rely on each other rather than forces overseas. The fact that Japan and the RoK are meeting so close to the anniversary of the independence of Korea is symbolic and hopefully a sign of thawing relations to come

Okinawa resident Hiromasa Iha can still recall the screams of his classmates and teachers after a U.S. military jet crashed into his elementary school, killing 18 people, more than six decades ago.

As people globally commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the 72-year-old retired businessman is among many residents who oppose the American troops stationed on their island ever since.

He joins dozens of islanders in near-daily protests against the U.S. military.

The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, and a string of incidents over the years, including sexual assault cases, have angered residents.

"For us, these crimes and accidents are not someone else's business, and we feel a pressing unease that we can't predict when these things may happen again," he said, recalling the 1959 school incident.

"We want the bases to go."

I lived across the street from where this US jet crashed into an elementary school in the 1950s. The signs of the American occupation are everywhere and can be easy to tune out once you get used to them. But it is still something that impacts the daily lives of Okinawan people, in both big and small ways. They deserve to be able to live on their land without foreign powers in Washington and Tokyo using them as a pawn.