Municipalities are struggling to reorganize their information technology systems to guard against possible data leaks ahead of the government's implementation of a new ID card system in January.
Under the My Number system, local governments plan to assign every resident in Japan a number by October that will be used for both taxation and social security management.
However, a recent survey found deepening concern that some cities, towns and villages are ill-equipped to implement measures that meet the government's standards due to their size, insufficient budgets and lack of manpower.