The Yokohama Municipal Government began taking requests Monday from local residents who do not want their personal data listed on a national resident registry network, city officials said.
Yokohama, with a population of 3.5 million and Japan's largest city outside the conurbation of Tokyo, allows residents to choose whether their data will be listed on the contentious network. Residents have until Oct. 11 to register their refusal at any of the city's 18 ward offices, the officials said.
Yokohama has already begun sending letters to the 1.45 million households in the city that inform residents of their new 11-digit identification numbers and include forms for those who wish to be left off the register.
Residents who choose to be left off will nevertheless be assigned an identification number.