ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Japanese policy in e-government since 1994. Japanese Information technology (IT) policy is characterized by several major plans spanning a wide range of activities, such as promoting advanced IT infrastructures, applications, digitization of government documents, information standards, and many other matters. The chapter describes development of and current issues in IT policy and e-governance, including privacy and e-voting. The government sought to create an advanced digitized administration, or an e-government, by the beginning of the twenty-first century, and the plan covered 5 years between fiscal years 1998 and 2002. As for personal identification systems for online applications, critics said the government could have avoided massive spending by introducing a unified system for all government agencies. The chapter shows that considerable effort has been needed to forge and implement comprehensive policies; not all agencies and sectors of society are always on board or in agreement.
