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Central Government, Policy

Japan plots one-stop public services portal

By Crystal Low | 13 July 2009

Japan plans to create an online portal that will give citizens ”one-stop” access to a wide range of public services by 2013, the government’s IT Strategic Headquarters has announced.

The system will have an online, high-security ”post-office box” that citizens can use to manage personal information online, such as checking the record of their payments into the public pension programme and obtaining a copy of a residency certificate. The portal is a midterm goal for the ”i-Japan strategy” which will run until 2015. However, the Japanese government has fallen behind its targets for the implementation of online public services.

”Some matters (regarding the strategy) straddle the responsibilities of more than one Cabinet minister, but I hope the members implement the necessary steps with a steady and expeditious manner,” Prime Minister Taro Aso said.

The IT Strategic Headquarters has also said that it will aim to further develop techniques for remote healthcare services that doctors could perform on patients in distant areas, relying on online networks.

It also aims at improving children’s information-gathering skills through the internet.

The government IT Strategic Headquarters was set in 2001 to establish an information technology-based society. With the prime minister at the helm, the unit has all Cabinet ministers and selected experts as members.

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