While many US states are rejecting REAL-ID, Japan has been quietly implementing it’s own ID system, with little resistance or complaints from its citizens. The Juki Net, begun in 1992, is a system that has uniquely identified every Japanese citizen with an 11-digit number. Included in the ID is the citizen’s name, address, date of birth, and gender.
Little resistance to the scheme may arise from the fact that many Japanese do not even know that such a system exists. That all changed when lawsuits over concerns of leaks, misuse, and constitutionality arose.
Juki Net had a spotlight shone on it recently because a number of citizens around the country sued against it, citing concerns of information misuse or leakage. And while an Osaka court ruled against the system, the Japanese Supreme Court has just ruled it is not unconstitutional, on the grounds that the data will be used in a bona-fide manner and there’s no risk of leakage. While there is a longstanding registration system for us foreigners in Japan, what astonishes me is how the government can secretly implement such a system for its citizens, and how little concern the media and Japanese citizens in general display about the privacy implications.
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