Photo/Illutration Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi holds up multiple IDs in his left hand and a new unified ID in his right hand on March 16. (Masatoshi Toda.)

Two Cabinet ministers are the latest converts to the popular Japanese trend of decluttering, taking aim at the jumble of ID badges weighing down the necks of ministry officials. 

Taro Kono, state minister in charge of administrative reform, and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said they are planning to reduce the tangle of 45 IDs issued to environment ministry officials down to one.

The duo made their announcements at news conferences on March 16 following a Cabinet meeting.

Koizumi held numerous IDs aloft and said that Aichi prefectural officials told him in an online meeting that there was an “employee who had 33 IDs hanging around the neck.”

Kono said a local government official complained to him, saying, “I am in pain. All these IDs will break my neck.”

Under the new system, ministry employees can wear a single ID that lists all their credentials instead of having to wear one for each. 

Credentials issued by a local government based on its ordinances can also be added to the ID.

Kono and Koizumi are determined to expand their decluttering initiative to other ministries and local governments.

Currently, environment ministry employees are required to wear an ID when they are conducting an inspection.

The ministry has issued 45 IDs based on each law and regulation, such as the Hot Spring Law, Natural Parks Law, Air Pollution Control Law, and Private Sewerage System Law.

Employees are required to show the applicable ID while conducting an on-site inspection. Many have been forced to wear dozens of IDs around their neck under the requirement.

Aichi prefectural officials complained about the situation to Kono, asking for a solution. 

Koizumi said Aichi officials have been pleased that the change will free themselves from the paperwork involved in issuing an ID, which has been particularly cumbersome when involving a personnel reshuffle.

Koizumi said he hopes the initiative becomes a catalyst to change the status quo at other government agencies.

(This article was written by Junya Sakamoto and Masatoshi Toda.)

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