The card is supposed to be based on the US social security number.
Japan wants to use this number to keep "an eye on us" and see if we are all paying taxes. And if I'm not mistaken will be used for other government related services too.
The initial form was sent special delivery by the city office to each household and had to be signed for.
If you weren't at home, the poor mail carriers had to keep trying until the forms were delivered.
We had to get identification pictures taken, attach the photo to the form and send it in.
A few weeks ago, we received a letter in the mail that the cards were ready.
What a p.i.t.a.
We had to go to the city office, show various forms of identification and set a password for the card.
The card is only good for 10 years and the password for 5 years.
Dunno why they couldn't have first checked our identification and take our picture at the city office.
Then when the card was ready the city office could've sent it to us special delivery.
Anyway, like most "ideas" that the government has tried, most have faded out over the years.
I have a feeling this too may be one of them.
Hope your week is going well, we started our rainy season over the weekend.
yep, when the government is involved, they come up with these "ideas" so that they can get paid for executing them even if they're dumb ideas in the first place. if they just could keep an eye on themselves, I bet a fair amount of taxes could be put to better use ;)
ReplyDeleteSheeesh...red tape hell.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know Japan did not have a ssn system, interesting! I dunno but a SSN is used left and right for identity theft so unsure if that's a good idea. I thought a few years ago here, that to catch illegal immigrants, some of the states or the fed gov't (???) started a national i.d. card...dunno if that is still in the works but I never heard about it again. Mom had told me that the han was very important in Japan, it was used to execute legal docs like mortgages, loans, etc. -N
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Rowena!
ReplyDeleteindeed Kirk!
N, they do have a pension system but not an ID system. Yes, those han-ko (stamps) are important in Japan for loans, etc. I've also heard you can use your thumbprint in place of those stamps too.
Take care everyone.
Kat