Portrait of Taro Kono
Politician · policy
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Taro Kono on Digital Governance

Strong digital advocate (strong)

TL;DR

Taro Kono strongly advocates for accelerated digital transformation and modernizing Japan's public services through digitization.

Key Points

  • As Minister in Charge of Regulatory Reform in 2020, Taro Kono announced that over 99% of administrative procedures requesting personal seals would no longer require the hanko by 2021.

  • He declared a "war on the floppy disk" as part of a broader effort to review and eliminate administrative procedures that demand paper submissions as of 2022.

  • In June 2023, he discussed expanding digital cooperation, including digital identity, with his Singaporean counterpart during a working visit, seeking experience in national digital ID rollout.

Summary

Taro Kono has been a key driver in pushing for significant digital transformation (DX) within the Japanese government, particularly since assuming roles related to administrative reform and digitalization. He is credited as a policy entrepreneur who capitalized on the urgency created by the COVID-19 crisis to enact rapid change, a period which saw government DX surge to the vanguard of the national policy agenda. His approach involved framing the need for DX as essential for national competitiveness and security, thereby securitizing the issue to overcome entrenched resistance to change that had previously stalled progress for decades.

His tenure was marked by concrete actions against archaic analog procedures, notably declaring a "war on the floppy disk" and successfully championing the abolition of the long-standing hanko (personal seal) requirement for most administrative procedures by 2021. As Minister for Digital Transformation, Kono also engaged internationally, seeking knowledge from advanced digital governance models, such as learning from Singapore’s experience with its national digital ID system, to further advance Japan's adoption of digital identity solutions like the My Number Card.

Frequently Asked Questions

Taro Kono’s key focus in digital governance has been radically accelerating Japan's government Digital Transformation (DX) by eliminating antiquated analog practices. According to academic analysis, he acted as a policy entrepreneur to push this agenda forward, especially after the COVID-19 crisis highlighted systemic inefficiencies.

Taro Kono led the major procedural reform to abolish the requirement for hanko (personal seals) on administrative documents, announcing in November 2020 that over 99% of these requests would be eliminated. This action was symptomatic of his broader campaign against analog processes, which included targeting the continued use of floppy disks.

Yes, Taro Kono sought international models for Japan’s digital ID development, as reported in June 2023. Specifically, he expressed a willingness to learn from Singapore’s experience in rolling out its national digital ID system to help popularize Japan’s My Number Card.