Tokyo
The Japanese government is trying to convince angry citizens that a new ID system does not herald the beginning of totalitarianism. The program, launched this week, assigns each person an 11-digit number, similar to a U.S. Social Security number, that will be required on federal documents. Privacy advocates said that numbering the citizenry amounts to government surveillance. “The Nazis assigned numbers to Jewish people in exactly the same way,” legal expert Hirohisa Kitano told a news conference. “It is extremely dangerous.” Several large Japanese cities have simply refused to register their citizens.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Buddhist monks’ US walk for peaceUnder the Radar Crowds have turned out on the roads from California to Washington and ‘millions are finding hope in their journey’
-
American universities are losing ground to their foreign counterpartsThe Explainer While Harvard is still near the top, other colleges have slipped
-
How to navigate dating apps to find ‘the one’The Week Recommends Put an end to endless swiping and make real romantic connections
