In a move that follows expressions of concern over privacy, the welfare ministry will abolish a system under which a unique sequence of numerals is used for pension numbers given to those who have legally changed their sex, according to sources at an advocacy group and the ministry.
The Japan Pension Service began to assign a new number last October to those who have changed their registered gender in addition to the numbers they had before, saying it had experienced computer errors in tracking the status of such people before and after they changed their status, the ministry said Thursday.
The additional pension number consists of a fixed sequence of numerals in the first four digits of a 10-digit sequence. The ministry said that at least 300 people have been assigned the additional numbers.