In a legal first, about 150 people filed complaints with district courts across the nation Tuesday calling on the government to cease using their My Number identification codes, saying the system will violate their right to privacy and have a chilling effect on democracy.
The My Number identification system is "unconstitutional," the plaintiffs argued in the complaints filed simultaneously in courts in Tokyo, Miyagi, Niigata, Kanazawa and Osaka prefectures.
All residents of Japan, including non-Japanese, are being assigned a 12-digit identification number they will need to convey to their employers or to bureaucrats whenever they go through administrative procedures pertaining to taxes and social security.