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Driver's license info to be integrated with My Number cards from March
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Furby
Just make everything digital, no need for cards in 2024
kurisupisu
An identification card by stealth.
What will the future penalties be for not carrying your ID card?
Another way to wring money out of the population.
David Brent
Good. About time.
I would prefer just one card with everything integrated.
kibousha
Health insurance integration is necessary. I used to live in Kawaguchi Saitama, surrounded by Chinese (my wife is Chinese). Most are employed by other Chinese, no insurance, no nenkin, so they use other people's health insurance to go to the clinic. I wonder how is it the city don't stop such practice ? I mean if you see the health insurance record, you can't be seriously thinking "this guy is sick every other day" is normal.
Mr Kipling
Did you report it?
sakurasuki
More and more monitoring practice being done in Japan.
theFu
This is scary. Just another govt merging lists of people to make tracking what you do and don't do easier. There should be outrage over this. At least insist that the information cannot be shared between govt entities and get that included in the law. "Good intentions .... "
Strangerland
Why? Based on what? How would that relate to the importance or lack thereof for the number?
wallace
From the end of this year, no new health Insurance cards will be issued and people will have to use My Number.
Blacksamurai
More the sky is falling comments from a few posters here. So what if information sharing between govt departments will happen with My Number being integrated into health insurance cards and driver's licenses etc? It's about time.
If you're not paying your due yeah then it is a problem. Personally I and I'm sure the majority of the law abiding J and foreigner population here, am fed up with people who skip out on their payment obligations for taxes, health insurance and fines for whatever. With a lot of deadbeats on health insurance being those 'English teachers' who come here to hang with their friends and get their jobs from exploitative companies who don't give a nickel how poor their behavior is outside class and who turn a blind eye to lack of their teaching skills.
My Number's integration helps solve the paperwork and quadruple record keeping that Japan bureaucracy is famous for. With driver's licenses, it will way easier to deal with all issues including those accumulating fines for whatever, to chase up tax and health insurance deadbeats especially the narcissistic self styled 'influencers and creators' who can't invest any time in learning how to teach English but can hang out in Shibuya with their endless cans of alcohol on the street. And those foreigners who get paid in cash in the music industry, again pretending to be English teachers so they can keep a visa but doing all sorts of work that isn't in their visa terms.
garypen
This is something I can totally get behind. OTOH, if it's like renewing your long-term visa online, I think I'd rather do it in person.
I used the online system to renew my visa this year, and the process was awful. I hope they don't use the same web developers and SW engineers for the DL renewal system.
wallace
tokyo_m
The info on MY Number is minimal and uses a different law than immigration. The renewal periods are also different.
Antiquesaving
A little clarification is needed.
By "Able" do they actually mean "will" or is it an option to only have the my number card?
This is important, because under the present rules/law only very limited places are legally permitted to note down the my number card information, those are government offices and financial institution/banks.
It is illegal for all other businesses to write down the number or photocopy the card.
This is why hospitals and doctor's offices have the little scanner for the card and they cannot manually input the information, they actually never have the card number.
Pawn shops, recycle shops are by law required to verify sellers ID and driver's license is the main form of ID used often making a photocopy or noting down the information including the driver's license number, but it is strictly forbidden to photocopy the my number card or note down the number.
This would apply also to places that rent cars, tools etc... car rental companies make a copy of your driver's license, if having only the my number card is an option then what will these places do, they can look at the card but they cannot make a copy or note down the number for their records.
I am curious how this will work.
Wasabi
They tried to give money for us to accept the card, it did not work. So now they will add the card to to Driver's license...
Speed
I knew they were going to force these cards down our throats 10 years ago when they were first mentioned.
Butttttt, this is good news! I hate going to those renewal sessions at the police office or driving centers.
garypen
The expiration date of the MyNa card is typically set to match that of the Residence card.
MyNa shouldn't be valid after one's residency has expired.
garypen
It worked for me and my wife. We got 20,000yen each.
Antiquesaving
I find it interesting that so many foreigners make a big deal about the my number card.
Most western countries despite their claims of not having a national ID card system actually do but they somehow claim it isn't.
Example, the USA and Canada claim they don't, but in reality they do they are the social security number card and the social insurance number card respectively.
These are required by law inorder to get a job and file taxes, similar ID/numbers are required throughout Europe.
Now granted these 2 cards in Canada and the USA don't have photos and are not used for health insurance or driver's license, but they are a defacto national ID needed to get government services, get a passport, work, etc ..
Antiquesaving
For those in a work or spouse Visa etc...the My number card expires at the same time as their visa.
If you renew your Visa you need to go in and update the my number card.
It is not valid past the date of someone's legal period of stay.
Antiquesaving
It is possible, but if that is so then someone should inform the Tokyo police because the latest 古物商許可証 seminar and information booklet says you can Copy the information of name address etc...but not the number and no photocopy of either side of the card.
The booklet is dated February 2024.
But honestly I wouldn't be surprised if the booklet is incorrect, it wouldn't be the first time.
wallace
"From December 2, 2024 (16), My Number Card and Health Insurance Card will be integrated. You can check the medical institutions where your My Number Card can be used as a health insurance card from the following "Notice on Medical Institutions and Pharmacy that Use My Number Card Health Insurance Card".
https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp.e.sj.hp.transer.com/kurashi/koseki-zei-hoken/kokuho/hokensho/202103.html#:~:text=From%20December%202%2C%202024%20(16,Number%20Card%20Health%20Insurance%20Card%22.
Cephus
"Driver's license info to be integrated with My Number cards from March.'
Integrating the two plastics is not only good ecology but also convenient to the public.
wallace
garypen
we have previously had the same discussion. The Resident Card is valid for 7 years. My Number is valid was 5 years.
They changed MY Number to 10 years. I expect my next My Number will be valid for 10 years.
But when you renew your Resident Card you are required to renew My Number too.
My Resident Card is valid until 02/29. My Number is valid until 03/27. I renew it in 2027 and again I need to renew it in 2029.
John-San
Australia has all this info on MyGov but we don,t have to have a card. the My Gov app on my phone has all your government the info. Hit the app on your iPhone then finger print opens up the site page then navigate to what you need, Medicare number or Licence Number, or vac info it all there no problem. But no doubt there will be the people who refuse due to their own privacy concern. fair enough.
OssanAmerica
No country on this planet integrates Immigration/Visa status with Insurance,Drivers License, social security/Nenkin, as Immigration status is irrelavant to the vast majority of the population.
Icon
Well they will integrate driving license but every department will still ask you for residence certificate, instead of reading from my number card, so what’s the point of such digitization
SDCA
Can I change my picture easily on my my number card then? I don't want to have to show my embarrassing photo that I took after just waking up with messy hair to go to the city ward office to go collect my 20,000 myna points during their campaign. Didn't think I needed to be serious with this card but it looks like I may be using it after all.
kurisupisu
I see a whole lot of pain ahead as Japanese IT is just not up to scratch
Even the private companies get it wrong.
Remember Benesse losing teams of data?
My bank, one of the most prestigious banks in Japan has attempted to establish a strong online presence.
However, attempting to upload data 3 separate times-utter failure and a complete waste of time.
I ended up downloading and printed a paper copy to mail in.
Trust government to do it better?
I don’t
tora
Yeah, now won't need to care so much about going out of my way to try and preserve my gold status licence vs standard anymore. Only reason Gold is good is that you have to go to the stupid centre every 5 years instead of 3 and the video session is much shorter. If it's online renewal, I no longer care! LOL
Antiquesaving
That isn't so bad, at least when it expires you will be able to change it, unlike crazy places like Canada where my ex brother in law became a citizen as a toddler and his citizenship card has no expiry date and he is still using that card 50 years later as ID to get his passport etc...
Just goes to show, despite complaints about Japan there is always someplace doing something worse or stranger.
Antiquesaving
Actually not the only reason.
First the cost of renewal, in one case you pay every 3 years the other every 5 years so divide it by the numbers of years and you are saving money.
But more importantly is insurance, a gold license will get you cheaper car insurance and that is around ¥10,000 per year in my case.
So it pays to have the gold.
iron man
Country or 'place' (part of a country). I have lived with such a system ~ 30yrs, I.D. fast lane arrival/depart, license (exc annual vehicle license) hospital attendance (priv and pub), bank services on and on, sure have to carry the card in case I get wrecked by a car and emergency services can then access my health records (priv & pub, cos' I authorised it). I prefer card to total digital, I go exercising, carry the card and hide dumb phone under a pillow! Cards have been updated at ~8-10yrs as encryption is enhanced, you choose the photo option. Card show coded residence / citizen status! Anything I missed above?
SDCA
You haven't seen my picture though that I'm stuck with for another 8 years T_T
I should have taken this thing more seriously haha, oh well
Antiquesaving
Well I for one like mine, I still had my hair in the front, hahaha.
Mocheake
Big Brother is getting more invasive by disguising these types of things as making processes easier.
Aoi Azuuri
Initially, LDP government had explained that restrict range of utilisation of "My Number Card" strictly.
But, they loosen it year by year despite defective system.
Besides, Government already prepares even irresponsible "terms of use" that they have no obligation to take responsibility no matter how serious damage its defect bring to citizen.
John Kennedy
One card to rule them all. One card to find them. One card to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
Antiquesaving
Wow the paranoia is high.
Back home, no national ID. but the provincial health care system is fully centralised, people were going on and on about privacy, big Brother, government intrusion, etc... but now no one would want it rolled back.
Du to a unified data base, with the physical card in hand and the correct terminal, any doctor can look up a person's history, see what medication they are taking, past test results, etc...done anywhere in the province, pharmacies can check what medication you are on, what medication you previously have taken, what you may have had adverse reactions to, etc.. meaning people are no longer limited to going to the same place all the time to avoid possible problems.
I would love the my number card with health insurance included to eventually include a central data base where my doctor can access everything from every hospital I have been treated.
Right now if she wants my CT scan results from the hospital, she has to give me a written request, I have to go to that hospital and give the request in and wait, then pay the hospital for my own information on a CD or sometimes printed paper. Then I need to go back to my doctor and give her all the stuff I got from the hospital.
I got sick in Kyoto, I live in Tokyo, great, the hospital had no way of getting my medical history except what I could tell them, so spent hours there without anyone daring to do anything until my doctor's office opened the next morning.
After they could get my medical information it took just one hour to give the needed treatment and I was released.
I say bring on the modern era, national data base, online driver's license renewal, unified systeme etc...
wallace
Medical records from hospital to hospital are easily shared. During my cancer treatment, I visited five hospitals, and the records were transferred at no cost to me. They just followed me and then back again.
garypen
You can get a new card with a new photo. Tell them you lost the old one, or bend it in half and say it was accidentally broken.
You'll have to fill out paperwork, similar to when you applied the first time, and pay 1000yen. I had to do this recently myself when my card broke due to my crappy old wallet.
theFu
The SSN abuse is used constantly for identity theft and credit theft. The only time I remember showing my SS card is when starting a new job. After all, the govt takes their money from the paycheck before I get any of it. I might have used a photocopy of it to get a passport along with 2 other identification documents. Nobody carries their social security card with them in the USA. Nobody asks to see it. Forms just ask for your number and hope you will provide it because there's a space on the form. I haven't provided it except to banks and employers and maybe the passport office. Nobody else has a legal need to know it.
US credit reporting companies use it ...er ... abuse it, which needs to be illegal, but isn't.
20+ yrs ago, many state DL numbers were just your SSN. That lead to all sorts of identity theft and laws requiring SSN not be used on DLs were passed.
Whenever we go to get health care, they always ask for our SSN. Health care has nothing to do with SS - it is just more abuse. The more people who know my SSN, the more likely it is to be leaked and our identity stolen. Then we get to spend 18 months trying to fix our credit and fix our identity for things we didn't have anything to do with. And the company who allowed the leak? They don't get punished in any way. Hardly fair.
You've been warned. My Number will turn out to be great for crooks.