An increasing number of residents across Japan have been voluntarily returning their Individual Number Card, known more popularly as the My Number Card, since June as a spate of errors and privacy concerns have emerged. 

The situation is alarming the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as they believe the issue could destabilize the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida if they fail to rectify the My Number system.

“A campaign to return My Number cards has been launched,” a lawmaker said during a meeting of the LDP’s Health, Labor and Welfare Division on June 28.

The lawmaker then urged the government and the party to take steps to address the situation and restore the public's confidence.

DISTRUST OF SYSTEM GROWING

A woman in her 50s and her parents living in the Chubu Region returned their My Number cards at a city hall of their municipality in early June.

She said she lost confidence in the government following a series of errors concerning the My Number cards.

Such mishaps include the personal information of some cardholders becoming accessible to other people in the My Number system, and some My Number cards being linked to people who are not the cards’ holders.

Around 450,000 My Number cards had been returned to local authorities as of May 25, according to the internal affairs ministry.

The figure is around 30,000 more than the number on March 3.

The ministry says it doesn’t know why the cards were returned.

It is believed that some cards were returned to municipalities because residents moved and didn’t apply for My Number cards in their new areas, the ministry says.

But residents must complete a form when they voluntarily return their My Number cards to local authorities, and they can specify the reasons for returning their cards on the forms.

Since June, more residents have been citing distrust in the My Number system as reasons for returning their cards on such forms, according to local authorities.

Four My Number cards were returned in April and May in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture.

That rose to 18 in June.

In the forms residents filled in, they explained reasons for retuning their cards, such as, “After numerous scandals, I can’t trust the system at all,” or “There are many problems with the system,” and “The system is erroneous.”

In June, at least 50 My Number cards were returned in Yokohama and 14 in Hiroshima.

Thirteen residents of Saga and five in Gifu voluntarily returned their My Number cards in June, though no one in the two cities did so in April and May.

Some residents in Saga and Gifu who returned their cards in June cited distrust in, or concerns about, the My Number system as reasons for returning their cards.

GOVERNMENT NOT CHANGING PLANS

More people are tweeting using the hashtag “#campaignforreturningMyNumbercards” to report that they have returned their cards or to show support for such an action.

If residents return their My Number cards, they can avoid a case where, for example, a copy of their certificate of residence is wrongly issued to someone else, which has actually occurred due to errors in the My Number card system.

However, there are still risks that their medical record could be linked to other people’s My Number cards, for example.

Despite numerous errors, the government hasn’t changed its plans of abolishing health insurance cards, in principle, and integrating them with My Number cards in the autumn of next year.

Residents will have to pay a fee if they want their My Number cards to be reissued after returning their original cards.

The rise in people voluntarily returning their My Number cards has upset the government and the LDP. Some in the party say the policy to abolish health insurance cards should be reviewed.

But if the government changes the policy, Kishida will be held accountable, experts say.

“The government should take seriously the fact that people who once accepted the government policy (of the My Number cards) are now returning them,” said Hiroshi Shiratori, a professor of politics at the Graduate School of Hosei University and an expert on the digitalization of administrative services.

“Many among the Japanese public understand the importance of administrative services being digitized," Shiratori said.