Glitches in Japan’s unpopular MyNumber digital ID cards draw a flood of complaints

YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — The minister charged with an overhaul of this nation’s digitized system to assign a number to all Japanese has apologized, as doctors protested glitches with health insurance and local governments begged for clarity on how to go about handling the problems. The MyNumber, or “MaiNa” for short, system has gone afoul. The government has ordered a total review of MyNumber data, one by one, “mechanically,” as the digital agency put it. The goal is to complete it by the fall, which could be September or November. The system includes a card with a photo and IC chip. A plan to replace health insurance cards with the ID cards has drawn an outcry from both patients and doctors.