Access to government information in Japan: a long way toward electronic government?

Supported by the development of information technology, the Japanese government is facilitating access to its information and taking steps toward electronic government. The policy initiatives concerning access to government information are divided into five areas: promotion of IT use in internal administrative activities, the Information Disclosure Law, information provision, records management, and general policy toward information society. However, these policy initiatives do not reflect the needs of the citizen, and implementation of the policy is curtailed by the lack of leadership and coordination. In addition, the government still holds a monopoly over its information and has poor management over flow and storage of government information. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.