Osaka – Late last month, the Diet passed a revised bill paving the way for so-called "super cities" or "smart cities." Supporters tout them as high-tech marvels where artificial intelligence and big data are to be used to provide more efficient and cost-effective solutions to social problems, especially in areas faced with aging and declining populations and a reduced tax base. Opponents warn that data leaks could lead to privacy violations and even a surveillance state. What was the purpose of the recently passed bill? In order to realize the creation of smart cities in various parts of the country, any number of basic regulations involving multiple ministries needs to be changed. The May 27 revision to a national strategic special zone law included measures the government can now take to do that more quickly and under more specific guidelines.

Japan has passed a bill to build "super cities" which address societal issues using emerging technologies such as AI. The bill, passed on Wednesday, aims to accelerate the sweeping change of regulations across various fields to support the creation of such futuristic cities. Addressing issues such as depopulation and an aging society will be the focus of the super cities. Technologies including big data and AI will be key to successfully tackling the challenging problems. Large amounts of data will be collected and organised from across administrative organisations. Local governments will be selected for the ambitious projects which will launch forums with the national government and private companies to take forward the plans. Draft plans will be created from this deep public-private collaboration that will subsequently be submitted to the state government if approved by local residents.

The Diet enacted a bill Wednesday to create "super cities" where artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies are utilized to resolve social problems. The bill revising the national strategic special zone law passed the House of Councilors by a majority vote with support mainly from the ruling coalition. The revision stipulates procedures to speed up the changing of regulations in various fields to facilitate the creating of such smart cities. The government hopes to utilize cutting-edge technologies to address issues such as depopulation and the aging of society. In such cities, data-linking platforms to collect and organize various kinds of data from administrative organizations and companies will be established for autonomous driving, cashless payments, telemedicine and other services.