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Japan’s laws on the protection of personal information (PPI) underwent a great transformation in 2021 (Reiwa 3). Previously, they had been segmented into a general law for the private sector (“Act on the Protection of Personal Information”), a general law for government agencies (“Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Administrative Organs”), and a general law for independent agencies (“Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Incorporated Administrative Agencies, etc.”). With the 2021 (Reiwa 3) amendment, the latter two were repealed, revised, and incorporated into the Act on the Protection of Personal Information. However, that is not to say that PPI in the private and public sectors would be handled in the same omnibus way. Since they are each regulated differently, PPI in the private sector is stipulated in Chapter 4 of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, while PPI in the public sector is stipulated in Chapter 5.
 
Decentralization was one of the distinctive features of PPI legislation in Japan. For example, the Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Administrative Organs applied only to PPI held by national government agencies, not local government agencies or local independent administrative agencies. Those were to be provided for by the PPI ordinances of each individual local government. However, the 2021 amendment has made Chapter 5 of the “Act on the Protection of Personal Information” applicable in those cases as well. Nevertheless, local governmens are allowed to enact PPI ordinances that suit their local circumstances in some areas.
 
This book is intended as a commentary on the newly amended Act on the Protection of Personal Information, though it does also touch upon distinctive PPI ordinances that were in effect at the time of its writing. This is because the author believes that the best PPI ordinances should be incorporated into the Act on the Protection of Personal Information and hopes that any future amendments to the act will reflect the advanced discipline of PPI ordinances.
 

(Written by UGA Katsuya, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2022)