On Monday, my wife and I went to the city hall to pick up my number card. My number card is a kind of ID card in Japan.
According to a report in the Nikkei Shimbun, there were quite a few applications for My Number cards this March, partly due to the extension of the deadline for the Myna Point system and the delivery of information with QR codes.
As can be seen from the graph above, the number of applications has increased when many people think that obtaining a My Number will bring some benefits.
The reason why there was not much growth even after the launch of the MYNA point system may be that it was not well known and the system was not easy to understand.
It was a time when the number of applications increased greatly, so I thought it would take longer to receive the notice, but the notice came before the holidays.
Even so, it took a month and a half since I had applied on March 12.
There were people receiving their My Number cards at the city hall counter just like us, but they were accepted with almost no wait.
At the counter, I showed the notice sent to me, my ID (driver's license for me, residence card for my wife), and handed over the notice of my number. This is the end of the registration process.
We then filled out forms with passwords for the "digital certificate for signature" and "certificate for user certification" for our My Number cards, which were then entered by the person in question at the window display.
After this series of events, my wife and I received our My Number cards.
The expiration date was explained to me when I received it.
Since I am a Japanese citizen over 20 years old, my card is valid until my 10th birthday counting from the date of issuance, but my wife's card was valid until the expiration date of her residence card.
According to the explanation at the counter, if an updated resident card is issued, it can be made valid until the expiration period of the new resident card by going to the counter at the city office if it is still within the validity period of my number card.
So, I have to visit the city office again by September, and I hope that they will eventually be able to link it with my residence card.
In Japan, government offices have a strong sense of territoriality and are often ridiculed for their stove-piped administration, but since the My Number card seems to be linked to the driver's license and health insurance card, I don't think it is impossible to link it to the residence card.
By the way, why is it that my number card is valid until my 10th birthday from the date of issue, but my digital certificate for signature is valid until my 5th birthday?
When I looked into it, I found out that the cryptanalysis technology is advancing day by day, so they set a deadline of five years.
I don't know the details, but I think it has to be disabled once the encryption is broken.
Nevertheless, it is very strange that it has an expiration date of five years.
Anyway, now that I have my number card, I'm going to register for myna points.
