Can Japan end its reliance on ‘boomer-era’ tech? One minister is waging war on the fax machine

From ‘hanko’ personal seals to the ubiquitous fax machine, much of Japanese corporate and bureaucratic life seems to be perpetually stuck in the 1980s

Veteran cabinet minister Taro Kono is trying to drag the country into the 21st century, but an army of petty bureaucrats stands in his way

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Taro Kono, the newly named minister in charge of administrative and regulatory reform, pictured at a news conference in Tokyo earlier this month. Photo: EPA

Published: 7:00am, 29 Sep 2020Updated: 11:03pm, 29 Sep 2020

Veteran cabinet minister Taro Kono, newly tasked with slashing through Japan’s legendary red tape and doing away with bureaucratic and corporate inefficiencies, has wasted no time in declaring war on two of the country’s most anachronistic throwbacks: “hanko” personal seals and fax machines.

But his crusade to modernise Japan away from workplace tech that would not look out of place in an office of the 1980s is likely to meet with resistance, observers say – not least from the country’s army of petty bureaucrats and professional pen-pushers who are both reluctant to learn new technologies and have an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude.

Since being named minister for administrative reform and regulatory reform by new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on September 16, Kono has laid out his ambitions with gusto.

Last week, he ordered all national government offices to broadly halt the practice of requiring “hanko” personal seals on official documents – limiting their use to only the most important or sensitive paperwork.

A 'hanko' personal seal is seen after being used to stamp a document in Japan. Photo: Twitter

In a letter distributed by the Cabinet Office, he urged every ministry to comply with his orders, warning those who did not that they would be required to provide an explanation as to why before the end of September.

Can Japan end its reliance on ‘boomer-era’ tech? One minister is waging war on the fax machine

From ‘hanko’ personal seals to the ubiquitous fax machine, much of Japanese corporate and bureaucratic life seems to be perpetually stuck in the 1980s Veteran cabinet minister Taro Kono is trying to drag the country into the 21st century, but an army of petty bureaucrats stands in his way

From ‘hanko’ personal seals to the ubiquitous fax machine, much of Japanese corporate and bureaucratic life seems to be perpetually stuck in the 1980s

Veteran cabinet minister Taro Kono is trying to drag the country into the 21st century, but an army of petty bureaucrats stands in his way