December 14, 2018

A rally took place on December 13 in Kyoto City to oppose the city government’s move to provide residents’ personal information to the Self-Defense Forces as part of the city’s cooperation for SDF recruitment activities.

The Kyoto City government recently decided to give the SDF a list of names and addresses of high school students aged 18 years and people aged 22 years living in Kyoto in the form of address labels. The city will prepare these labels by using the basic registry of residents.

In the rally, lawyer Iwasa Hideo, a member of a civil group that organized the event, said that a growing sense of crisis within the SDF concerning the recruitment of new members may be reflected in the city government’s move. He pointed out that in addition to the issue of the aging of SDF personnel, the SDF faces difficulties in attracting young people to the organization after the enactment of the war laws which increases the possibility that SDF members will be dispatched to dangerous duties overseas.

Iwasa stressed that it is generally accepted that citizens have the right to control their personal information based on Article 13 of the Constitution. He said that until recently, the city government had only allowed the SDF to copy the resident registry by hand within the city office building. Iwasa stated that the city’s latest decision to offer address labels is unreasonable and unjust.

Lawyer Fukuyama Kazuhito, also a member of the group, reported on a meeting with city officials on December 7. He said that the officials themselves admitted that the city does not have an obligation to accept any SDF request for personal data. He added that he asked them about the inconsistency between the city’s decision in question and the city’s ordinance on privacy protection, but he received no convincing answer.

A rally participant said, “It is unacceptable for the city to use personal information in such a manner without the person’s consent.”

Past related articles:
> Number of new recruits to SDF continues to decline [December 17, 2016]
> Over 5,000 students take part in SDF’s ‘experience’ programs every year [December 11, 2016]
> SDF increases activities to recruit high school students in face of its growing unpopularity [October 26, 2015]