Laws and Institutions Related to the Digital Society

Carbon Neutrality (カーボンニュートラル) means subtracting the amount absorbed or removed by forests and other means from greenhouse gas emissions, so that the total comes to net zero.

First, energy saving and a switch to renewable energy cut the emissions themselves, and whatever remains is made up for by absorption and removal through tree planting or capture technology. The Japanese government has set a goal of achieving this by 2050. The IT field is also taking steps, such as switching the power for data centers to renewable energy.

AnalogyIt is like managing your weight by burning off the calories you eat through exercise so the balance does not go up. You do not stop eating; you keep what goes in and what goes out in balance.

How to remember"Neutral" is the same word as the N on a car's gearshift: leaning neither way. Read it as the balanced state where what is emitted equals what is taken out.

The National Strategic Special Zones Act (国家戦略特別区域法) is a law that allows regulatory exceptions only within zones designated by the state, in order to boost the economy and trial new businesses.

Even rules that are hard to change uniformly across the country can be set aside inside a designated zone (a National Strategic Special Zone, 国家戦略特区) to try new approaches. For each zone, the state, the local government and private businesses put together a plan, and the work goes ahead once the state approves it. The act was enacted in 2013.

AnalogyIt is like a school that finds it hard to change its rules for every grade at once, so it first tries a new rule in just one grade. If it works, the rule can be extended to the other grades.

How to rememberIt is often shortened to "tokku" (特区), meaning special zone. The name says it all: the rules change only inside a special zone.

The Super City Act (スーパーシティ法) is the common name for the scheme, created by amending the National Strategic Special Zones Act, that lets future cities use AI and data to change several areas of daily life together.

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It lets regulatory exceptions in fields such as mobility, healthcare and administrative procedures be used together at the same time, across fields. Other features are a data linkage platform (データ連携基盤, also called a city OS) that joins data from each field, and moving forward while checking what residents want. It was introduced by a 2020 amendment.

AnalogyInstead of each shop on a shopping street trying new services on its own, the whole street adopts one shared membership card so every shop is linked by the same data.

How to remember"Super" means going beyond. Read it as a city that goes beyond the walls between fields and changes them together.

The Basic Act on the Advancement of Public and Private Sector Data Utilization (官民データ活用推進基本法) is a basic act that sets the basic policy for promoting the use of public and private sector data held by the state, local governments, incorporated administrative agencies, private businesses and others, along with the roles of the state and others.

A basic act (基本法) is a law that sets out the principles and direction of policy in a field rather than detailed rules for individual procedures. Based on this act, the government draws up a basic plan and promotes measures such as moving administrative procedures online and open data (オープンデータ), where data held by government bodies is published in a form anyone can use. It came into force in 2016.

AnalogyIt is like a family agreement to list the tools tucked away in each room so that anyone in the family can use them.

How to rememberIn the Japanese name, "kan" (官) means government offices and "min" (民) means the private sector. The first two characters alone tell you it covers data from both.

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The Basic Act on the Formation of a Digital Society (デジタル社会形成基本法) is a basic act that sets the basic principles for building a digital society in which everyone can benefit from digital technology, and the duties of the state, local governments and businesses.

It came into force in 2021, replacing the earlier IT Basic Act (IT 基本法, the Basic Act on the Formation of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society). Based on this act, the government draws up a Priority Policy Program for realizing a digital society. The Digital Agency, launched the same year, acts as the control tower for these measures.

AnalogyIt is less like a neighborhood association's detailed duty roster and more like a town charter that says what kind of town people want.

How to rememberIts predecessor was the Basic Act on the Formation of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society. The "Basic Act on the Formation of ... Society" frame stays the same and only the word before "Society" changes to "Digital", so remember it by the shape of the name.