Japan passes digital law as virus underscores tech struggles

The pandemic has highlighted Japan's difficulty in taking advantage of more efficient ways of working. - AP

TOKYO (Bloomberg): Japan’s parliament approved a law to set up a new Digital Agency as the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, including stumbles in its vaccine rollout, underscored the country’s need to catch up on technology.

The bill, which passed in the upper house Wednesday (MAY 12) following approval in the more powerful lower house last month, establishes an agency aimed at bringing greater digitalisation to ministries and administrative bodies.

The Digital Agency, to be launched in September with an initial staff of 500, will also plan a nationwide shift of local government processes into the cloud and try to help facilitate digitalisation in the private sector.