After decades of debate, Japan’s government finally bit the bullet and pushed the country towards a national identification number system. Officials aimed to assign a “My Number card” to every citizen in the country by the end of 2022.
However, it’s now the end of 2021. And by today’s count, only 40% of Japan’s citizens have a card. This, despite the government launching a “cash back” campaign designed to increase uptake.
Why the resistance? Recently, Japan’s Mainichi Shinbun tackled why so many in Japan seem so resistant to jump on the My Number bandwagon.
The Introduction of the My Number System
Japan’s government has discussed introducing a national ID system for decades. Until now, ID has been managed through the national family registry (koseki) system. The system has proven effective as a means of verifying identity and lineage. However, it doesn’t offer a simple, convenient way to identify an individual for tax purposes.
The first musings about a national ID system date all the way back to the Satou Eisaku government of 1968. Back then, the government gave it the foreboding name of 国民総背番号 (kokumin sou-sebangou). But it’s hard to make many friends with a name like that. The idea eventually died out.
The idea came back to life in 2007 (Heisei 19). Part of the motivation was a simple desire to simplify tax reporting and the handling of individual data. But it was also a response to the “disappearing pension problem”. In 1997, the government began unifying social security pension accounts under a single uniform identification system. Until then, pension accounts had used different systems and different ID number formats to identify users. The whole thing was a mess, and in 2007, officials revealed that some 50 million pension accounts had no identifiable owner.
In 2013, the National Diet under the second government of Prime Minister Abe Shinzou passed a national ID number law. Seeking to avoid the PR mistakes of the past, officials christened the new system “My Number” (マイナンバー). They hoped that the folksy English phrase would lower people’s resistance and speed adoption.
Sadly, they were wrong.
National ID Card = Free Stuff
My Number is a 12-digit-long format. The first 11 digits are based off of a resident’s resident number code as defined in the national Juki Net system. (The transformation is designed so that a resident’s number can’t easily be reverse engineered.) The 12th digit is a checksum code. Used in other national ID systems and in credit card numbers, the checksum is a calculated value based on the previous 11 digits. It enables computer applications to determine quickly whether a specified My Number value is valid or not, thus reducing typos.
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The government assigns a My Number to anyone with a certificate of residence (住民票; juuminhyou). That means that both Japanese citizens by birth as well as foreign permanent residents receive one.
It’s one thing to assign everyone a My Number. That’s something the government can do whether anyone wants it or not. But the Abe government wanted to use the My Number system to affect a digital transformation of Japanese society. Even today in 2021, for example, Japan lags behind other developed countries in its use of cashless technology.
So along with the number, the government introduced the My Number Card. It’s essentially a national ID that contains a machine-readable IC chip.
To incentivize adoption, the government offered 5000 yen (approximately USD $45) in cash back points for people who submitted a card application. It also wanted to encourage citizens to actually use their numbers. So as an incentive, they promise up to USD $190 (20,000 yen) in points for people who added the number to their health care plans, bank accounts, and other personal assets.
Who Needs It?!
But according to Mainichi, these incentives haven’t driven adoption. The government estimated that some 50 million people would apply for points. As of today, however, the applications haven’t even reached half that amount. And only 39% of the population has bothered to request a card.
So why the resistance? According to a poll by NTT Data the top three reasons (comprising 30% of respondents) include:
- I already have an ID card (driver’s license, resident card, etc.)
- I’m worried about information leaks of my personal information
- I don’t need it!
The second point deserves some special attention. I previously mentioned Juki Net, which is also known by its more formal name, the Basic Resident Registry Network (住民基本台帳ネットワークシステム; juumin kihon daichou nettowaaku shisutemu). Activists and citizens criticized the system soon after its introduction in 1999, with some declaring it an unconstitutional use of personal information.
During the 2000s, several incidents brought the system under additional scrutiny. In 2002, a tape containing part of a program for backing up personal data was stolen from a city in Fukushima Prefecture, sparking privacy concerns. And in 2004, the government had to intervene to stop the government of Adachi Ward in Tokyo from entrusting citizen’s personal data to a private contractor.
In response to these and other incidents, activists sought to quash the Juki Net system in the court. However, in 2008, Japan’s Supreme Court declared the system constitutional. The ruling paved the way for the introduction of the My Number system. But it left a lingering distrust of the national identification system in its wake.
Mixed Messages?
Another problem, Mainichi says, is that many people think the government is sending mixed messages with the card. On the one hand, education campaigns tell residents to guard their My Number closely. On the other hand, the government wants everyone to use their My Number card as their primary form of identification.
Naturally, both government agencies and private industry want to promote greater use of the My Number system. It’s a surefire form of identification that would make it much easier for government agencies and business to offer services to customers.
However, based on polling data and uptake rates, it’s pretty clear the government is fighting an uphill battle.
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