Nipponica

This December, in line with integrating Japan's health insurance cards with the "My Number" IC-chipped ID cards, existing ones will in principle be discontinued. A July 20-21 Mainichi Shimbun poll revealed that despite hopes for improved convenience and other benefits as part of the government's push toward a digital society, fears remain strong over data protection and other matters, and opposition to the government's handling proved more conspicuous than criticism of the new system itself.

Communication from government is key. But also actions (and in this case inaction) are important. The several My Number-related controversies over the past few years have severely impacted the public's perception of an already unpopular system. The Digital Agency needs better PR (and better quality assurance) to make the future of this system less bleak.

The work consisted of simply printing personal information data on both sides of a white card with a fake IC chip embedded. She would often make 60 cards in a day, which she would then send to specified domestic addresses. For one day’s work, she would receive electronic money equivalent to about ¥12,000 to ¥16,000.

The MPD investigated, suspecting that the person giving instructions was in China. On May 15, they arrested two Chinese nationals on charges including suspicion of forging sealed official documents for allegedly making fake My Number cards at the request of the same group. They believe the forged cards may have been used for purposes such as setting up mobile phone contracts.

The whole point of a digital ID is that the digital bit can prove authenticity of the card itself. The fact that most businesses and banks rely only on the visual information printed on a card without certifying the digital certificate renders the whole enterprise pointless. While the counterfeiting of these cards is certainly a problem, the real issue is that people don't seem to understand or care on how to use this IDs for their intended purpose.

Digital Minister Taro Kono has informed a heavyweight of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that he intends to run in its presidential race in September, aiming to become Japan's next prime minister, a source close to the matter said Thursday.

It is not really too surprising that Konoちゃん is running as he has obviously wanted the PM chair for a long while. But the biggest roadblock for him (besides himself) is his less than stellar reputation as the minister in charge of digitalization and the various MyNumber fiascos. But, a literal tuna mayo onigiri could beat Kishida at this point so anything is possible.

Currently, the Justice Ministry only allows online birth registration when submitted with a digitally signed birth certificate. Due to the additional complexity of processing documents with digital signatures, no municipalities have accepted digitally signed birth certificates, effectively requiring all birth registration papers to be submitted or mailed to local government offices.

Under the new system, local governments will be able to receive birth certificates in a digital form directly from medical institutions starting as early as fiscal 2026.

While I hope that this system will launch without issue, a rush of fake births registered to this system could be the solution to the population crisis.

Some 70% of the target procedures have been revised. Of 1,034 that originally required floppy disks, the requirement for the use of the format invented in the 1970s has reportedly been abolished in all but one -- where the Ministry of the Environment is in the process of revising an ordinance.

As a first link post here at Nipponica, this seems appropriate and an accurate way of countering the myth of Japan being a hub of future technology. The biggest problem that plagues government and business processes here are rigid to the point of being almost impossible to change. It took a global pandemic to mostly phase out the use of physical hanko personal seals as legal signatures on official documents.

"Digitization has made considerable progress. We would like to proceed with necessary reviews, including the use of faxes."

Ambitious, Konoさん.