Demonstrators protest My Number at rally in Shibuya
Demonstrators protest My Number at rally in Shibuya BY TOMOHIRO OSHAKI With the distribution of the controversial My Number identification code only a few weeks away, hundreds of protesters marched through Tokyo’s Shibuya district Saturday in a last-ditch effort to stop a program they say invades people’s privacy. Chanting “Stop My Number now!” and “No dangerous My Number card!” protesters called for postponement of the 12-digit number slated for mid-October. Organizers put the turnout at 400. The government will start sending all residents in Japan, including non-Japanese, an identification number it says is intended to spare them the hassle of doing paperwork to handle administrative procedures. Addressing a crowd before the rally, Yasuhiko Tajima, a professor of media law at Sophia University, charged that the My Number program is “unconstitutional,” citing its gross violation of privacy rights. The system was initially supposed to be used only for tax, social security and...