The “My Number” National ID system is scheduled to be introduced in Japan in January, 2016. The Japanese government is anticipating three outcomes. Firstly, it will become easier not only to gauge the income of individuals and corporations, and the payments they receive for administrative services, but also to prevent the unfair evasion of taxes and illegal receipt of benefits. Secondly, by reducing the amount of paperwork and so forth, administrative procedures will be simplified and individuals will be able to verify personal data stored by administrative organizations in addition to receiving service information. Thirdly, administrative organizations and local municipalities will be able to greatly reduce the amount of time and work spent on verification, transcription, inputting and so on. To comply with the introduction of the system, those who work at a company or use the services of financial institutions will be required to give their personal and family “my number.” A “my number” will also be allocated to long staying non-Japanese and permanent residents. Corporations, including non-Japanese owned companies, will also receive numbers, and up-to-date information about them (name, address and corporate number) will be published on the government’s website. Many developed countries have introduced similar ID systems. However, crimes related to privacy violations, personal information leaks, and identity fraud have occurred. Bearing this in mind, the government has stated that the usage of “my number” will be limited to social welfare, tax, and anti-disaster procedures; records pertaining to personal income and health will not be stored. From 2017 an accessible system of data storage will be launched that will allow individuals to verify when, who, and for what purpose their own data – this includes access to “my number” – was accessed. However, worried that the amalgamation of all this information may mean future privacy violations, citizens are anxiously watching to see how the situation will develop.