Japan drops to the 14th spot in UN e-government ranking
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will propose a national budget for fiscal 2021 set to top 105 trillion yen ($994 billion) that places digitization of government services front and center.
Digitization has emerged as a pressing issue after Japan's failure to distribute stimulus payouts to households in a timely manner this spring. Outdated systems also have hampered the collection of coronavirus-related data. That performance caused Japan to drop in the United Nations' e-government development ranking to 14th place for this year.
Read more: JP: Suga's $1tn budget proposal to target digitizing government
Within a zippy 24 hours of becoming prime minister this month, Yoshihide Suga had not only created the post of Japan’s minister for digital transformation but had also ordered its new holder to rush off and draw up a blueprint for the country’s first digital agency.
Asked about the Herculean labour before him, Takuya Hirai — most recently in the news for browsing crocodile videos on his tablet during a parliamentary hearing — looked suitably hassled. “We are being asked to move at a speed never before seen in Kasumigaseki,” he told reporters, referring to the bureaucratic heart of Tokyo and a district rarely singled out for its pace.
Read more: Japan’s digital leap forward — and about time too
Competition and national security concerns arise if Beijing takes the lead
The Japanese government has grown increasingly concerned about China's proposed international standards for smart cities, worried about a competitive disadvantage as companies vie for business.
China has already submitted smart-city proposals to both the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, and the International Electrotechnical Commission, according to a source close to the government here.
Read more: Japan grows wary of China's smart-city global standards
Residents control data to allay privacy concerns troubling US and China projects
Japan's regional cities are taking a new approach to smart cities, which use digital technology to improve functionality and livability.
In the U.S. and China, which lead the field, people's distrust of having personal information collected en masse is an obstacle to expanding smart cities. On the other hand, Japan is finding success in taking the opposite tack and making the provision of personal information optional.
Read more: Small Japanese towns look to lead world in smart-city tech
Drone delivery, self-driving buses and facial recognition payments featured in plan
As the Japanese government moves forward with its promotion of smart cities, the ruling party seeks to turn this marriage of technology and infrastructure toward combating pandemics.
The Liberal Democratic Party envisions using data from antibody testing to publish information on how infections are distributed geographically. The condition of patients with mild or no symptoms could be monitored with wearable devices and made freely accessible to the public. Broader use of telemedicine is in the proposal as well.
Read more: Virus-fighting tech becomes central to Japan's smart-city vision