KASUMIGASEKI GOES ON-LINE:
Japan's Government Offices to Build Wide Area Network
SEPTEMBER 17, 1996
In Kasumigaseki, Tokyo's central bureaucratic district, information networking is proceeding at a rapid pace. In the 25 main government ministries and agencies, there are already personal computers for nearly 80% of the staff, which means 28,000 civil servants, and eight ministries and agencies have one PC per staff member. Early next year the Kasumigaseki Wide Area Network (WAN) is scheduled to begin operating, linking the local area networks (LANs) that are already in operation inside ministries.
The task of putting Kasumigaseki on the information highway began with the Basic Plan for Promoting Administrative Information, decided on by the cabinet at the end of 1994. The plan outlines the Government's objectives in this area, including installing a PC for every staff member; enabling the public to use PC communications rather than documentation for permit applications and consultation; and promoting research to enable the public to use conveniently installed terminals for over-the-counter administrative matters. Based on this plan, about 20,000 PCs were newly installed in ministries and agencies in fiscal 1995.
LAN systems are already established in 22 ministries and agencies. When the Kasumigaseki WAN is launched next year, e-mail between ministries and agencies will become possible. Also, the Government is scheduled to begin the trial exchange of official documents by computer by fiscal 1998.
In addition to encouraging paperless offices and rationalizing administrative work, it is hoped that this networking of information communications will contribute to the sharing of information among ministries and agencies and to making administrative work speedier and more efficient.
Internet Home Pages
At the same time, 13 ministries and agencies have already set up their own home pages on the Internet to supply various information, and some ministries and agencies have begun such operations on a trial basis. In addition, the Kasumigaseki WAN is expected to begin a system on the Internet from fiscal 1998 introducing what information is available in which government offices. Such developments can be expected to strengthen the function of information disclosure.