Teething Problems With Online Bureaucracy

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]Asahi: Passport program packed in
A disastrous 2-billion-yen government project to let people apply for a passport online will be scrapped because it is too troublesome to use...Of the 3.75 million passports issued in fiscal 2005, a paltry 103 applications came from the online service... The service was launched at the end of fiscal 2003. The government had spent about 2 billion yen developing it, and this year allocated 862 million yen for its upkeep. But only 12 of the 47 prefectures even offer the service...Online applicants must have a basic resident register card that costs 500 yen--and which only 1 percent of the population possesses--a personal authentication that costs another 500 yen, an IC card reader that costs about 3,000 yen, and pay a handling fee on top. They also have to download several software programs...more...

[Mulboyne]

Online Japanese bureaucracy isn't working out that well:

Asahi: 19 prefectures scaling down, scrapping online administrative procedures

Financial difficulties have forced 19 prefectural governments to cancel or scale down their often-inefficient online administrative procedures for citizens, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey. With the costs of running online systems high and the number of users low, many prefectural governments have switched to cheaper systems to reduce expenses. Total operating costs for online systems around the country are expected to decrease to less than 1.61 billion yen in fiscal 2010, or two-thirds of 2.44 billion yen in fiscal 2008.

The Asahi Shimbun carried out the survey concerning 10,759 administrative procedures that can be conducted online at the 47 prefectural governments. Officials were interviewed on the number of annual online applications and what percentage they accounted for, the costs to operate the online systems, and whether they have or plan to review the electronic procedures and the overall online system. Many prefectural government systems suffered from inefficiency, with one application from a resident costing more than 10,000 yen to process at 22 prefectures.

Okinawa topped the prefectural inefficiency list, with one application costing 91,463 yen, followed by: Kagoshima (79,783 yen); Yamagata (61,216 yen); Ehime (43,209 yen); and Gifu (25,680 yen). Aichi Prefecture has the most cost-efficient system, with one application costing 67 yen to process, followed by the governments of Shiga (534 yen), Tokyo (540 yen), Niigata (745 yen), and Osaka (935 yen), according to the survey. These five prefectures simplified their online procedures by, for example, not requiring electronic authentication. In that way, they reduced costs by increasing the number of users.

The central government has urged prefectural governments to promote online usage for 19 procedures because of their high volumes of applications. But online applications accounted for less than 10 percent of 10 of these procedures, such as one to change addresses for an automobile tax and another concerning food business. Some procedures had rates exceeding 80 percent for online usage, such as one for reserving sports or cultural facilities and two related to bidding for contracts, which only certain companies use repeatedly.

Two prefectural governments have scrapped their online systems altogether. The Kochi prefectural government saved 32 million yen when it halted its electronic procedures at the end of fiscal 2005, while Gifu Prefecture saved 48 million yen when it did the same at the end of fiscal 2008. Under the central government's strategy for information technology, central and local governments rapidly introduced electronic filing of administrative procedures starting in 2001. However, the ease of use and cost efficiency took a backseat, prompting the Board of Audit to point out inefficiencies of the systems.

An Asahi Shimbun survey on electronic procedures at the central government conducted earlier this month found that less than 1 percent of all applications for nearly 20 percent of administrative systems at ministries and agencies were conducted online. One application cost the government as much as 8 million yen to process.

[FG Lurker]

Japanese can't design interfaces. I don't know what the fuck it is, but it is incredibly rare to see a well designed interface produced in this country.

[Ketou]

Japanese can't design interfaces. I don't know what the fuck it is, but it is incredibly rare to see a well designed interface produced in this country.

That is so true. Any software that comes with devices, fax/scanner, camera, whatever it is....is an absolute nightmare to use.

[American Oyaji]

Japanese can't design interfaces. I don't know what the fuck it is, but it is incredibly rare to see a well designed interface produced in this country.

You have NO idea how bad they are. You should see the software the big H creates for inhouse use.

[FG Lurker]

You have NO idea how bad they are. You should see the software the big H creates for inhouse use.

Unfortunately I've had the misfortune of seeing Japanese software design from both the inside (developer) and the outside (consultant & user). Stuff put out by tiny companies is bad and stuff put out by huge banks is bad. I really don't get how it can be so poorly done across the board.

[james]

ui here is an absolute nightmare. everything from online sellers with long and complicated half-baked forms, cluttered all to hell web pages, ja's banking software, my router's config admin panel, everything.. they just don't get it .. at all

and really, i don't think it's limited to software. things like street curbs that extend too far such that you have to cross into the 'out' lane when pulling into a store's parking lot etc.. no thought to useability whatsoever in 'real-life' systems too.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Why is it that the Japanese are only good at hi-tech when it comes to toys and games but when it come to practical applications they're a bunch of fucking Luddites?

[FG Lurker]

Why is it that the Japanese are only good at hi-tech when it comes to toys and games but when it come to practical applications they're a bunch of fucking Luddites?

'cause Japan is a 3rd world country with 1st world toys.

[BigInJapan]

I worked at a software company here localizing foreign software and the J UI would usually end up looking tacky or cutesy.
Then, at a large electronics maker, localizing J UI menus etc. into English often resulted in cramming sentences or phrases into the space where 4 or 5 kanji did the job - a no win situation.
So far, the best example of a smooth multilingual UI I have seen is the iPhone. It is having some impact on other domestic devices (seeing more touch screens), but the UI's still have a way to go.

[Mulboyne]

Why is it that the Japanese are only good at hi-tech when it comes to toys and games but when it come to practical applications they're a bunch of fucking Luddites?

Although Japan has a great reputation as a supplier of consumer goods over the last thirty or forty years, the economic model is basically producer-led. Solving an engineering problem before the consumer knew it was there has been the great skill of many Japanese companies.

That's not the only, or best, way to create demand.

There is one significant demand-led business in Japan and that's the sex industry. Companies routinely provide services there before the consumer knows they want them. Some other industries work that way too but, mostly, companies try to impose solutions from the top down and, unfortunately, the game is up.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Why is it that the Japanese are only good at hi-tech when it comes to toys and games but when it come to practical applications they're a bunch of fucking Luddites?

Because it's hard to simulate stalking, love, rape or sex when you're applying for a passport.

[Ketou]

'cause Japan is a 3rd world country with 1st world toys.

Ping Pong.
It's blatantly obvious when having to deal with the bureaucracy.
Go into the Transport dept and shuffle from one building to another in random order. Get a stamp here, pay tax there, fist full of forms over to the main building to watch thirty staff shuffling paper while a single flickering computer sits forlorn and alone at it's own desk.
And don't they love it when you mention it.....

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Sorry to threadjack with something off topic, but how's thisfor a different kind of teething problem?

[Greji]

Sorry to threadjack with something off topic, but how's thisfor a different kind of teething problem?

Yaeba's are simply off-set canines that all J-women are born with and fully develop when they become married. This allows them to sink these blood sucking tusks into your jugglars that much easier after putting on the wedding band....

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

This allows them to sink these blood sucking tusks into your jugglars that much easier after putting on the wedding band....

Too true. And, unfortunately, blood from the jugular is the only thing sucked after the wedding band goes on...

[Greji]

Too true. And, unfortunately, blood from the jugular is the only thing sucked after the wedding band goes on...

Were you married to my wife before?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Were you married to my wife before?

Probably....