Japan’s Taro Kono wants to stamp out the fax machine, but will message be received?

Japan’s minister of administrative reform wants to wean the country off fax machines, and encourage the use of digital signatures instead

Faxes are often used to print off physical documents and apply traditional ink stamps ‘hanko’ that are used to sign everything in Japan

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Japan’s Digital Agency Minister Taro Kono is trying to get companies in the country to use digital technology, and no longer use fax machines. File photo: AP

Published: 11:00am, 23 Oct 2022

When Taro Kono was appointed Japan’s minister of administrative reform in September 2020, he immediately set himself a nine-month deadline to bring the nation’s bureaucrats, companies, public organisations and even the general public into the 21st century.

Kono’s requests, starting with government ministries, were by no means outrageous: he wanted to wean them off fax machines that have dominated every office in Japan since the 1970s, and to encourage the use of digital signatures in favour of the tradition of printing out documents and applying a “hanko” seal of approval.

In a nation that has produced Nintendo and Toyota, cutting-edge robotics, a thriving space industry, advanced energy solutions and countless other technological innovations, Kono’s mission seemed realistic. But Japan’s stubborn reliance on methods of doing business that are considered laughably archaic elsewhere is proving to be insurmountable.

Yet the go-getting Kono is nothing if not resilient. Japan set up its Digital Agency last year and he was put in charge, with the task of nurturing the country’s digital technology. And he is determined to impose his will on the holdouts against progress.

During an online meeting with reporters last month, Kono underlined his ongoing commitment to the campaign to get the nation up to speed.

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