CICC TOKYO DAYORI
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.104
Japan is conducting its once-every-five-years national census based oninformation as of October 1st this year. This statistical survey targetsall individuals and households residing in Japan. Its purpose is toaccurately grasp the actual state of society, including populationstructure, household composition, employment status, and nationality.The survey results are utilized in the administrative sector formeasures addressing the declining birthrate and aging population,disaster countermeasures, revising the number of seats for electedrepresentatives in electoral districts, and calculating local allocationtaxes. In the private sector, they inform commercial facility expansionplans and marketing strategies. In the academic field, they supportresearch on population dynamics and economic analysis. Previously, part-time surveyors appointed by the Minister of InternalAffairs and Communications visited […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.103
Without realizing it, I have come to rely on mobile xxx in my dailylife. Mobile banking, mobile payments, etc. Both are very convenient. Mobile banking can be used anytime, anywhere.It seems like a distant memory to be constrained by bank opening hoursand ATM availability. Mobile payments are not only convenient because I can pay with just atouch, but it's also nice to earn cash points.Even if those points earned each time are small, they will add up to aconsiderable amount before I know it, and I can use them for shopping.No matter how much cash I spend, I will not get such benefits. According to Japanese government, the ratio of […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.102
On the Essential Values of the Japanese People In recent years, Japan has been facing a serious labor shortage invarious industries due to the declining birthrate and aging society. The same problem is becoming more serious in the IT industry, where theMinistry of Economy, Trade and Industry estimates that there will be ashortage of 790,000 digital workers by 2030. In order for Japanese IT companies to secure a stable supply of digitalhuman resources, it is widely expected that they will utilize digitalhuman resources from overseas. I also expect that digital talent from Asian countries will play anactive role in Japan.The biggest barrier for overseas digital talent to work with Japan […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.101
From January 13th to 18th, 2025, we, CICC, invited key digital strategyfigures from IT-related governments and other organizations from sevenAsian countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand,and Vietnam - to Japan, and held the "Digital Strategies in AsianCountries" conference on January 16th, which was well received.https://cicc.or.jp/english/20250130-01/ Overall, I got the impression that all seven countries are steadilymoving towards digitalization through their individual policies, underthe vision set forth by their governments. Of course, this was alsobecause each presentation was very well put together.What about the situation in Japan now, on the other hand?The integration of health insurance cards and My Number cards is stillbeing criticized, and more recently, there have […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.100
February 3 is the first day of spring, according to the old-styleJapanese calendar.In fact, it is cold today far from spring. But Okamezakura, early-blooming cherry trees or SAKURA are preparingtheir buds and begins to bloom from the end of February to the beginningof March near my office in Tokyo. There are many varieties of cherrytrees, and the most famous cherry tree in Japan is the Somei-yoshino.They usually begin booming in late March. According to the cherry blossom Somei-yoshino forecast for 2025announced by a weather information service company at the end ofJanuary, blooming will begin in Tokyo on March 21, followed by Fukuoka,Kochi, Hiroshima, and Yokohama on March 22. After that, […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.99
How are you all doing? In Japan, the “scorching hot summer” has come to an end and we havesuddenly entered “winter”. Normally, the wonderful season of"autumn" comes between "summer" and "winter", but perhaps due to theinfluence of global warming, this year we skipped "autumn" andwent straight into "winter" unfortunately… BTW, changing the subject, in this essay I would like to share theaftermath of the “series of robberies” that I introduced withTokyo Dayori issued in February 2023.All the members who were directing the robberies and were hiding inManila at that time were arrested.With this, it seemed that the situation had calmed down for the timebeing, but recently, there have been many robberies […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.98
The LDP held its presidential election on September 27 and a newpresident was elected from among nine candidates. Of the unusually largefield of candidates, the youngest, who was considered a major contender,faltered. Various media have analyzed his failure to win the presidency,and one of the reasons has been pointed out to be his attempt to rapidlypromote the separate surname system for married couples.[1]I am neither for nor against this system. In my case, my fortune wouldbe better if I changed my family name, so I gladly changed it when I gotmarried. If people feel inconvenienced, they should not change theirlast name. What is so wrong with that? I asked my […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.97
"Improvement of Market Information Stimulates Attraction of Businessfrom Abroad" In order to promote new business, companies in developed countries, not limited to Japan,create a business plan and decide on the allocation of investment and human resourcesafter the settlement of a board meeting.As a necessary part of business plan preparation, "Return on Investment" (RoI) isalways an important criterion.ROI is an indicator that shows how much profit the invested money has generated.The higher the ROI number, the more cost-effective and valuable the investment.Measuring ROI is important because it quantifies how an investment has paidoff in terms of business profits and allows for an accurate determinationof its effectiveness. However, I have rarely seen […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.96
April to May are months of good weather, and we get outside and becomemore active in Japan. Bears also come out of hibernation and move aroundactively in search of food.In recent years, there have been many reports of bear attacks in variousregions from Hokkaido to western Japan. In FY2023, a record 219 peoplewere affected, with Akita Prefecture having the highest number ofaffected people at 70. In Akita Pref., last month, two police officers,who were trying to transport a man who had entered the mountains to pickbamboo shoots and died after being attacked by a bear, were alsoattacked by a bear and seriously injured.Originally bears were afraid of humans and lived […]
CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.95
In daily life in Japan, identity verification is required in varioussituations such as payment, point allocation, member confirmation,check-in, entrance and exit, etc.I also use the service using an IC card, smartphone, etc., but everytime I use it, I have to go through the trouble of searching for the app.It's such a waste of time and a pain for me. There is also the risk oflosing my card or smartphone if I carry it around. I believe there isa growing desire to use services more safely and easily. It also takesa lot of work on the part of the store to check.Meanwhile, Hitachi Ltd., one of Japan's leading electronics manufacturers,is proposing […]