OSAKA -- The city of Moriguchi, Osaka Prefecture, sent the 11-digit resident identification numbers of 364 households to the wrong addresses, the city said Wednesday.
The Moriguchi Municipal Government will dispose of the numbers, which were to have been used as part the national resident registry network launched Monday.
It will provide the relevant households with new numbers.
The city blamed the problem on a printing error.
City officials have begun collecting the erroneously sent numbers by visiting each household that received one.
They also started visiting the 364 households whose numbers arrived at the wrong destination to apologize and confirm that their ID numbers will be changed.
Moriguchi Mayor Hiromi Kita apologized for the error, saying, "We are very sorry for the big trouble caused by a simple mistake.
"We concentrated on preventing computer hackers from illegally accessing the system," he said. "It is very shocking for us that we caused trouble through a simple, primary mistake."