On June 2, the Act on Amendments to Parts of ‘Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in the Administrative Procedure, etc.’ (the “Amended My Number Act”) was enacted. The current health insurance cards will be abolished and integrated into My Number cards by the autumn of 2024. Bank accounts for receiving pensions will also be automatically linked to My Numbers if the account owners' consent cannot be confirmed within a certain period of time. The scope of use of My Numbers, which was limited to three purposes of social security, taxation, and disaster management at the time of introduction, will also be expanded. Sharing of personal information (between different government agencies or municipalities) will be allowed under the law by competent ministerial orders without the approval of the Diet for affairs permitted by the Amended My Number Act and “related affairs.” This means that obtaining My Number cards will be substantially mandatory for everyone, and administrative discretion will also be expanded.

On June 6, the “Priority Policy Program for Realizing Digital Society” was approved by the Cabinet, revealing the schedule for expanding the use of My Numbers. However, troubles have occurred one after another, including accidental registration of someone else’s health insurance card, mistaken linking of My Numbers to wrong bank accounts in the name of other persons, and erroneous issuance of resident records of different persons in the certificate issuing service. The most surprising point was that linking of My Numbers to the health insurance cards was carried out without the consent of the owners and without checking passwords. This is not just a mistake. Did such troubles occur due to systemic problems or lack of operational rules? Why is the government rushing so much without clarifying the causes of these problems and where the responsibility lies?

Originally, the My Number system was not a My Number “card” system. Owning the card or not was optional, which was the starting point when the system was designed. However, at some point, the focus shifted to increasing the rate of having the cards, as if it had become a political purpose. Many of the problems exposed so far are considered to be the results of operational confusion caused by the rapid development of the system. If the direction change of making it mandatory has been politically decided, the question for the public should not be the convenience, but rather necessity of the cards. There is no need to invest huge amounts of taxpayers’ money in such foolish measures as the giving of the “Myna Points” to new users that was introduced to increase the rate of use.

In October 2022, a top official of the administration who served as the head of the original Digital Agency stated in public, “We don’t need to listen to the people’s voices at every step of the development process of the My Number cards.” Did he just play the role of a “strong leader” with his authoritative words that only autocratic leaders may bring out, or was that the true intention of the government? The truth is unknown. In any event, the true leadership in the current situation is to halt and review the system, understand what actions to take as a leader, take full responsibility for people’s risk of owning the cards, and hear the opinions of people on the pros and cons of mandating the use of the cards. I hope that the current minister, who is considered to have the ability to overcome difficulties, will choose fair, straightforward ways to solve the problems.

This Week’s Focus, June 9

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President