<h3>Less than 10% of medical institutions can use it as an insurance card</h3>
 The My Number card has been the subject of a series of commercials featuring popular figures such as Kuranosuke Sasaki and Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. Although a budget of 100 billion yen has been spent every year to promote the use of the card, its penetration rate is still only 30% after five years since its launch.
 One day, a friend of mine, Mr. A, was struck by a small tragedy.
 Mr. A is a single man living in Tokyo. His registered domicile is in Sapporo City. When he needed a copy of his family register for a pension application, he said, &#8220;I can get an official certificate at a convenience store if I have a card. I&#8217;m so glad I have my My Number Card&#8230;&#8221; He went to Seven-Eleven and set the card on the terminal.
 However, the message displayed was something like, &#8220;This system cannot be used. I checked and found out that only three of the eight types of certificates listed on the official website are available at the Sapporo City Office.
<figure id="attachment_209767" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-209767" style="width: 5472px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="efe0a086"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/10/1_aflo_88335433.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-209767" class="wp-caption-text"> In the FY 2008 budget, 245.8 billion yen was spent on giving points; in the FY 2009 budget, 100.1 billion yen was spent on popularizing the system; and in FY 2010, 123.3 billion yen&#8230;. Is it reading too much into it to think that there are people who would benefit from the lack of widespread adoption?　The photo shows the android &#8220;totto&#8221; at the World Robot Summit (Photo: Afro)</figcaption></figure>
<h3> Ask Kaga City, which ranks first in Japan in terms of card penetration, about the riddle of the disparity between municipalities.</h3>
 After contacting Sapporo City Hall, Mr. A was told to send the application form by mail, so he downloaded the form from the website. He downloaded the form from the website, printed it out, filled it out, stamped it, put a stamp on the return envelope, went to the post office, bought two small checks for 450 yen each, and was charged a fee of 110 yen, which cost him half a day. &#8220;They claimed they could do it, but what the hell?　You should at least build a basic system, since you&#8217;re spending so much money on various campaigns! I was very angry.
 The number of municipalities that have introduced convenience store services is 740, which is less than half of the total number of municipalities in Japan (1,718).
 &#8221; But in Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture, which ranks first in Japan with a 76. 5% card application rate, as many as170administrative procedures can be completed via smartphone. Why is there such a difference between municipalities? Mr. A said.
 If we can find out why they did it, we can find out why they can&#8217;t. So we talked to the Smart City Division of the Policy Strategy Department at Kaga City Hall.
<figure id="attachment_209768" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-209768" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="de1446c9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/10/8ce4ac1726ec1521b719468d544de056.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-209768" class="wp-caption-text"> Kaga City is famous for its Yamashiro and Yamanaka hot springs. It was the Corona disaster that hit the city, whose major source of revenue is tourism, that prompted the spread of the My Number card.</figcaption></figure>
<h3> In one year, the diffusion rate was 14 From 14.6% to to 65 To 65%!</h3>
 One of the reasons why Kaga City decided to go digital was because the city was selected as a &#8220;city of potential extinction&#8221; in 2014. With a strong sense of crisis, Mayor Riku Miyamoto entrusted the future of the city to the smart city concept.
 He said, &#8220;We have reached the limit of the amount of money and effort that the government can spend. We are focusing on making the city a smart city and digitalizing it, because we believe that we can find a first-mover advantage in how quickly we can respond to the government&#8217;s direction. 
 As for electronic applications, we have combined systems developed by private companies and introduced them as the &#8220;Kaga City Electronic Application System. About 170 170 administrative procedures can be applied for (* Due to various reasons, the system was closed on September September 29 (Due to various reasons, some of the procedures have been suspended since September 29). (*Some procedures have been suspended since September 29 due to various reasons.) Simple procedures such as applications for events and courses for citizens can also be submitted electronically.
 For a long time, the card penetration rate in Kaga City was only about 14%. The pandemic of the new corona virus was an unexpected tailwind for the city.
 &#8220;As part of its economic measures, Kaga City distributed 5,000 yen worth of &#8220;Kaga Support Gift Certificates&#8221; to citizens who applied for a My Number card. The main reason for the distribution of the coupons was to counter the corona, and I understand that the citizens applied for the coupons. 
 The distribution of the gift certificates was financed by the national government&#8217;s &#8220;temporary subsidy for local development in response to the new coronavirus infection. We have also strengthened our system for accepting applications for My Number cards. Through these efforts, we believe that we were able to increase the popularity of the My Number Card in a short period of time.
 Looking back, last year, the public&#8217;s attention was focused on various benefits, such as the 100,000-yen uniform benefit and the sustainability benefit. If they can get 10,000 yen in addition to the 5,000 yen worth of MINER points, they may be tempted to apply for it. They saw the opportunity and didn&#8217;t miss it. The number of people at the counter was increased, and in just one year, the penetration rate rose from 14% to 65%.
 At the same time, Kaga City has opened smartphone classes and a smartphone consultation center for the elderly. The first step is to familiarize them with the use of digital devices.
 &#8220;As part of its efforts to promote a smart city, the city is promoting the use of digital services such as electronic applications using the My Number Card. We have received generally positive feedback from those who have participated in our smartphone classes.
 Those who are able to use a smartphone are encouraged to make use of electronic applications, while those who are unable to use a smartphone are given extensive guidance. In the long run, the workload will be reduced. It&#8217;s a win-win relationship.
<figure id="attachment_209769" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-209769" style="width: 581px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4c351a42"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/10/80dd0d3f316a9b3b845d48f196384c3a.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-209769" class="wp-caption-text"> Many municipalities have offered gift certificates in an attempt to revitalize their local communities, but the effect was only temporary. Kaga City, however, used the gift certificates to promote the My Number Card.</figcaption></figure>
<h3> The key to the success of the promotion of the My Number Card is an administration that is close to its citizens.</h3>
 Even so, not all of the eight types of certificates listed on the official website for the My Number Card can be applied for at convenience stores. At the moment, two types of certificates are not available: &#8220;proof of registered matters in the resident registration certificate&#8221; and &#8220;proof of various taxes. Why is this?
 &#8220;It is a matter of necessity, isn&#8217;t it? There is a cost-benefit ratio, so we have to determine which services are needed by the citizens. 
 If a service is increased but not used, the residents will wonder why they are spending money on such a thing. We don&#8217;t want people to waste their money on unnecessary things, so I heard that the decision was made not to use these two types of services at this time.
 After all, Kaga City is working from the perspective of its citizens!　Even for a single My Number card, it is important to see how much the city cares about its citizens and those who need it (such as Mr. A, who lives in a different area from his registered domicile and needs a copy of his family register). If the government is committed to providing administrative services in which citizens play a leading role, and if the digitization process is carried out with a clear vision of the future, everyone will be convinced to apply.
 &#8220;In the future, as the My Number card becomes more widely used, there will probably be an overwhelming number of people who have doubts about the security of the card, so the challenge will be how to make people understand that. It&#8217;s difficult for Kaga City to do this on its own, so I would like to ask the government to remove this sense of anxiety.
 The commercial says, &#8220;It can also be used as a health insurance card,&#8221; but even though the start of the system has been postponed from March to October, only less than 10% of medical institutions have installed card readers.
 Rather than spending money on commercials and extending the period of the Myna Point program, it would be better to leverage it by allocating ample funds to the digitization of local governments and the cost of equipment for medical institutions. &#8220;It&#8217;s not a case of &#8220;catch a thief and twist a noose,&#8221; but if the My Number Card is really safe and so convenient, there will be an atmosphere of &#8220;It&#8217;s time to get a My Number Card,&#8221; even if Tetsuko Kuroyanagi doesn&#8217;t say so, right, Mr. A?

 Chiaki Ide

 The My Number Card has been the subject of a series of commercials featuring popular celebrities. The city of Kaga has been spending 100 billion yen every year to promote the use of the card, but only 30% of the population uses it. In this situation, there is a town that ranks first in Japan with a 76.5% application rate for the card.

My Number Card is spreading rapidly! “The secret of Kaga City, a “smart city

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