Preparation for digital reforms gets underway

An of f i c e to prepare l e g i s lat i on related to digital reform was recently launched by the government, to serve as a control tower in promoting the digitization of public administrative services.

Attention is being focused on the weaknesses beleaguering the administrative systems of central and local governments, and on how those shortcomings should be corrected.

“We should recognize that our fight with the novel coronavirus was a digital battle that was lost,” said Takuya Hirai, minister for digital transformation, summarizing the flawed handling of the virus by the central and local governments.

Symbolic of the lost battle was the uniform cash payment of ¥ 100,000 to all residents. The online application process for the outlay — which used electronic certificates encoded in My Number cards — was delayed, causing more than 100 local governments to suspend the internet procedure. Because the central and local governments’ computer systems failed to act in concert, local governments were forced to manually confirm if the information written on applications coincided with resident registries.

Other failures followed. For example, the central government was unable to hold online conferences between ministries, and some local public health centers sent faxes when reporting the number of infected patients to prefectural governments, including the Tokyo metropolitan government.

In 2001 the government mapped out the “e- Japan Strategy” to develop tech infrastructure. However, the coronavirus crisis has laid bare the delay in standardizing the digitization of public administration systems.

One key problem is that ministries and agencies have separately procured integral IT infrastructure. Under the leadership of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, some ministries and agencies have been working to integrate their IT systems, but only a few have switched to a unified platform so far.

Circumstances differ among local governments depending on their size. A large proportion of local governments serving populations fewer than 200,000 purchased readymade, prepackaged systems from tech firms. However, scores of core cities, ordinance- designated cities and special wards adopted individually tailored IT systems.

“When migrating to an improved or new system, each local government would need an individually tailored method, which would require a lot of effort and money,” said Kunihiko Matsushita, a director at TKC Corp. who is an expert on administrative systems.

Because the tech systems of the central and local governments are not standardized, the strengths of digitization could not be used to coordinate among public organizations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The government plans to achieve by the end of fiscal 2025 a common tech infrastructure among ministries and agencies using cloud computing technology. The central government will also promote the acquisition of My Number

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, left, and Takuya Hirai, minister for digital transformation, attend a launch event on Sept. 30.

cards by residents, with the goal of having nearly all residents possess one by the end of fiscal 2022. The electronic certificate encoded in My Number cards will become a type of information infrastructure to help prevent impersonation scams and enable users to safely make online applications for various purposes.

From next March, residents will be able to use the My Number card as their health insurance card. “It is necessary to create, without delay, a society in which every sort of administrative procedure can be done promptly without going to a government office,” Suga has said.

A digital agency will be established next year. To succeed in integrating systems of ministries and agencies into a common tech platform, some of the vested powers of ministries and agencies need to be eliminated, such as those over budgets and manpower.

With a centralized system, there will be increased concern regarding certain aspects, such as information leaks. Reinforcing measures against cyberterrorism will also be necessary.

Local governments have built unique tech systems. The switch to a new system will not be easy.

“The digitization of administrative services has made little

progress because governments tried replacing analog administrative procedures with online ones in an offhand manner, thus failing to enhance their usefulness,” said Eiji Kano, chief researcher at the Institute of Administrative Information Systems.

“Unless governments review their administrative procedures and systems and cut down on waste, any attempt at standardizing the digitization of administrative procedures won’t go well.”

The government needs to formulate a schedule reflecting the actual conditions of current administrative services.

The city government of Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, aims to create by the end of fiscal 2022 a “smart local government” that will, in principle, relieve residents of the need to go to city hall for administrative services.

Ube envisions the city hall of the future as a comprehensive portal that serves as an office window, allowing online applications for various administrative services, such as registration to move into or out of the city; administrative procedures related to marriage, childbirth and child-rearing; and screenings for the designation of people in need of nursing care and making such a designation.

The city government would

also notify people subject to various medical checkups at the appropriate time.

Such services have already been realized in some countries. Residents in Denmark and Estonia can notify administrative organizations and financial institutions about such information as a change of address via an online service.

According to the 2020 U.N. e-government ranking released by the U. N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Japan placed 14th in access to online government services.

Japan has strong telecommunications networks compared to other developed countries, but the nation is rated low for the provision of administrative services online.

“Japan lags in the provision of administrative services that are directly linked to the convenience of its people, and the gap with highly ranked countries, such as Denmark and South Korea, is widening,” said Kyorin University Prof. Kentaro Kogure, a scholar of politics.

It is often difficult to visualize how digitization affects our daily lives. To accelerate the digitization of administrative procedures and services, it is necessary to quickly build systems in which people can realize the usefulness of such systems and spread public understanding.