Towards Full-fle ed
Electronic Records
Management in theJapanese Government:
Endeavors by theNational Archives ofJapan
1TetsuoYokaichiya

Towards Full-fledged Electronic Records
Management in the Japanese Government:
Endeavors by the National Archives of Japan
1. Introduction
2. NAJ Digitalization Initiative
3. Initiatives Related to the Electronic Management of National Administrative Records
4. New Initiatives of the National Archives of Japan
5. A New National Archives of Japan for the Digital Age
6. Conclusion

National Archives of Japan
Tetsuo Yokaichiya
2１．Introduction:
Overview of mechanisms for Public Records and Archives Management in Japan“Public Records and Archives Management Act” (Act No. 66 of 2009):•Basic principle of appropriately managing public records and archives,
as records of national activities and historical facts, by ensuring proper and efficient public
administration, and fulfilling the responsibility of accountability to current and future citizens
Administrative organs manage records, and National Archives preserves historical archives under the act.
Key points:• This act is for administration; It does not govern directly the legislative and the judicial branch,and local governments should make efforts to make management system by their self by referring to this act.
• Cabinet office oversees the administrative records and archives management system, but eachadministrative organs performs practical records management using its own system.
• The National Archives of Japan is the agency under the cabinet office that preserves historical archives andprovides for public use, and gives professional and technical advice on records and archives management.
Under these circumstances, with the rapid digitalization of the national government and society,
the NAJ’s role in providing professional and technical advice has become even more important.

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2．NAJ Digitalization Initiative(1) Two Digital Archives in the National Archives of Japan
Since the early 2000s, NAJ has embarked on two full-fledged digital archive projects in anticipation ofthe advent of the digital age.
i) the digital archive of the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR), which has been inoperation since 2001.
ii) the National Archives of Japan, Digital Archive (NAJDA), which has been in operation since 2005.
Together, these two digital archives provide 70 million images of digital data.
i) JACAR is the selected archives to provide catalogue information and digitized images of “Asian historicalrecords” (important public records related to the relationship between Japan and neighboring Asian countries,
held by NAJ, Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the library of National Institute for DefenseStudies), from the early Meiji period to the end of World War II (additionally JACAR provide post-World War II
materials covering the 70 years since the end of World War II, recently).
ii) NAJDA is the digital archive project to provide all of our holdings on the internet. We prepare a catalog anddigitized images. At present, approximately 25% of the holdings, equivalent to 410,000 volumes of digitizedimages, are available for use.
In this Digital Archives, there are the basic documents of Japan, such as the Constitution of Japan, archives
concerning the establishment of laws, and important cultural properties. NAJ are now digitizing “Cabinet
Library,” which is a collection of valuable records collected by the Edo shogunate and the Meiji government.

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NAJ Two Digital Archives and Digitization（October 2023）

Total of 70 million images
80000

70000

Number of Images ( x1000)

60000

50000

JACAR Digital Archive

40000

NAJ Digital Archivehttps://www.digital.archives.go.jp/

NAJ Total

30000

20000100000Year

https://www.jacar.go.jp/

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“Japan Search,” Portal for Digital Archives in Japan
NAJ is promoting collaboration via searches across the databases of local government
archives and participating in "Japan Search," a national digital archive portal for museums,
libraries, and archives (“MLA”) across all of Japan.

Digital archive portal site of Japan, “Japan Search,” https://jpsearch.go.jp/

62．NAJ Digitalization Initiative(2) Electronic Records
Japan has started to focus on the acceptance and preservation of electronically created records, known as "borndigital" records.
NAJ has developed and operated a system for the long-term preservation of electronic records and archives called the“Electronic Records Archives of Japan” (“ERAJ”) in 2011.
10 years ago, the software used by administrative organs was diverse and standardization of office software was notadvanced. NAJ designed the system on the basis that electronic records to be transferred were to be preserved afterconversion to PDF/A (*image for JPEG2000) and other formats suitable for long-term preservation.
Acceptance
Administrative
OrgansRecordmanagementsystem

Use
9. .Public Use

1.Transfer

2. Acceptance

3. Format
Conversion

5. PreservationFormat
Conversion

Long Term
Preservation

List Checknetwork
Virus Checkothers
ElectronicRecords

Preservation

Readability

media

Outline of ERAJSystem

4. Extract
Metadata

Extractedit

10. Management
SystemWork log
System log

Data
Backup7. Masking
Systemcoordination

Masking

NAJ
DigitalArchives

Preservation by maintaining
Folder Structure
and converting to PDF/A

8. Administrativeuse

System for
Administratives

Internet

6. DistanceBackupnetworklogin

download

Administrative
Users

SearchbrowsePublic User

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3．Initiatives Related to the Electronic Managementof National Administrative Records
Status of Electronic records ofJapanese Administrative Records *(1) Current status

20,000,000

Recent survey shows that thepercentage of electronic records
of total records is 16.8%, and 30%of newly created records are“born-digital.”

Volumes of administrative Records

Japanese administrative organs
are trying to digitalize theirrecords management systems by
installation of electronic approvalsystems (workflow system) and file
management systems, but many
paper-based records are still being
created.

18,000,000

5.5%

6.1%

8.0%

6.7%

10.1% 12.7%

16.8%

5.2%

100.0
90.0

16,000,000

80.0

14,000,000

70.0

Increasing trend ofelectronic records

12,000,000
10,000,000[%]

50.0

8,000,000

31.3%

6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000

6.3%

7.3%

7.7%

8.2%

2015
2

2016
3

2017
4

10.9%

15.1%

60.0

40.0
30.0

19.6%

20.0
10.0

年度

00.0

2014
1

系列1
Papers2018
5

系列2
Electronic

2019
62020
72021
8

系列4
Percentage of Electronic*Author created from the following resource, Record Management division of Cabinet Office,“The Report on the current status of administrative records management in 2021, November 2022”
https://www8.cao.go.jp/chosei/koubun/houkoku/2021/2021_houkoku.html. Accessed on September 19, 20238

(2) Targeting 2026, full-fledged electronic management system

The Japanese government has decided to improve its administrative records
management system and released “The Basic Policy on the Electronic Management ofAdministrative Records” (decided by the Prime Minister on March 25, 2019), setting atarget of 2026 for achieving full-fledged electronic management system.
Summary *This policy states that administrative records created in the future will be managed electronically.
The government will consider establishing a system for electronically controlling the entire process fromcreation to storage, disposal and transfer.
The government will firstly start with management of structural shared folders and make rules to manage files.
Secondly, the government should consider work flow and requirements with the aim of automating records
management processes such as automatically creating metadata when they are created (full-fledged
electronic management).
In addition, other matters to be fulfilled in electronic management include converting to a long-termpreservation format and considering measures to ensure stable long-term use at the National Archives.
* Summarized by the author, from “Basic Policy for Electronic Management of Administrative Records,” March 25,2019.
Accessed on Cabinet Office Website, September 19, 2023
https://www8.cao.go.jp/chosei/koubun/densi/dennshigaiyou.pdf 9

(3) Rapid moves toward digitalization and the Report of the Digital Working
Group of the Public Records and Archives Management Commission

In Japan, the Digital Agency was established, the "Priority Policy Program for Realizing
Digital Society" was presented, and measures to digitalize national administration and services were promoted
extensively, including the digitalization of public records management.

In 2021, the Digital Working Group was established in the Records and Archives Management Commission, andexamined the electronic management of administrative records and presented basic concept of systemintegration as “Efficient records management utilizing digital technology (systemized Automated, stress-freeoperations)” and confirmed its intention to manage record as data, nor documents, under the Public Records andArchives Management Act, (data are classed as records under the Act).”

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From 2022 to 2023, the cabinet office reviewed the management rules entirely on the premise that public records
management would be digitalized. In 2022, the records management guidelines were revised:• the management of records should be based on electronic records• rules were organized as "data management in information systems" rather than record management inphysical storage.
• the flow of record management operation and system specifications were reviewed with the aim of achieving
unified administrative record management by 2026.
Furthermore, in 2023, for development of unified records management system for administrative organs, theretention period tables, which set the standards for transfer and destruction were reorganized.
The proposed revisions to the guidelines also include management rules both for preservation folders and metadata,
as well as the use of “standard formats” for the creation and preservation of electronic records.
NAJ is now making efforts to survey and make recommendations on “standard formats” for the cabinet office.
In the future, the above proposed guideline will be considered by the government, and once it has been decided, therecords management rules will be revied by each administrative organs.
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The Report of Digital Working Group,"Records and Archives Management in Digital Era," July 2021.

Summary *1. Efficient records management utilizing digital technology
Direction of system development: Automated, stress-free operations- Utilize digital technology to automate procedures and operations. Progress is managed automatically by a system.
Utilize AI and RPA, to check retention schedules of records- Review the hierarchical categorization of the three-level, assign category information with metadata- For reliable Information Management, Information security, system redundancy and backups, saving read-only,
and automatic conversion to the long-term preservation formats- Integrated development of systems (LAN, record management systems, etc.) by the Digital Agency- Consistent development of the system throughout the government as a whole,considering the entire system from government agencies to NAJ as an integral system
2. Database systems and Public Records and Archives Management Act- In the digital age, a lot of work will utilize data instead of document format, and these data are classed asadministrative records.
- When designing systems, we should determine the methods of control under the rules of the Public
Records and Archives Management Act.
*Summarized by the author, from The Digital Working Group in the Public Records and Archives Management Commission,"Records and Archives Management in Digital Era," July 2021.
Accessed on Sep.20th, 2023. Website of Cabinet Office, https://www8.cao.go.jp/koubuniinkai/digitalwg/digitalwg.html

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4．New Initiatives of the National Archives of Japan(1) Further Promotion of Digital Archives and Utilizing Digital Technologyi) Promotion of Data Utilization through the Utilization of Digital Technology
The “National Archives of Japan Digital Archive” has accumulated a considerable number of digitized image
resources on the Internet.
However, it is not easy to read Japanese characters, and in addition to hiragana, katakana, and kanji characters,
there are records in cursive script, as well as variations in vocabulary and notation, which make it difficult evenfor Japanese people.
At present, new digital technologies, such as making these data machine-readable and searching with image
matching functions, will not only eliminate existing barriers to use and dramatically improve convenience, butwill also enable us to transform the service into one that can be used by people with disabilities since these newservices are now realistic in term of cost.
ii) Expansion of Cross-Searches of Archives, etc., Across Japan
In Japan, digital archiving has been promoted in various fields, and today, a wide variety of digital content isavailable on the Internet, and also can be searched by “Japan Search.”
NAJ is continuing to promote links with the databases of local archive across Japan. Because a wide variety ofdigital information, including electronic public records, will be provided in archives, it is necessary to examine theideal approach to information cooperation suited to the digital age and work toward the realization of suchcooperation.
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Image of The “Universal Digital Archive” In the Digital Age
2. Digitalization by
National Archives ofJapan

1. Digitalization by
Administrativeorganizations

3. ”Universal Digital
Archives”
in the Digital Age
Findable,
Connectable

Online Research Room

Increase Electronic anddigitized Archives

Increase electronic
Records

Digital Archives

All online service
from request to provide

Digital Archives

A prefectureDA

Electronic

Digitalization

TechnicalAssistanceTransferincrease
Digitized
RecordsPaper
Across the entire government shift to full-fledged
digital management by the time of the opening of
the new National Archives, "The Basic Policy on theElectronic Management of Administrative Records"

Paper
Archives
Digitized
Archives

Digitalization

C cityDA

Universal
Design＝＝DigitizedArchives
紙

All material to Digital Archives
Realize information linkage of historicalmaterials

Machinereadable

B CityMLAorgans

UniversalArchive

Digital Archive
Network
Transcription

PaperRecords

ElectronicArchives

ElectronicRecords

ElectronicUsers can find theinformation they want

UsableUsable bypeople and machine
Multilanguage,
Text-to-speech, free use

New National Archives of Japan14

(2) Technological Standardization for Electronic Public Records and supportfor People for Electronic Records Managementi) Introduction of Standard Technologies
To ensure the long-term and stable preservation and use of electronic records, it is most fundamental to set forth clear
rules related to the creation and preservation of records and to use technology that is stable over the long term and thatcan pass information on to the next generation.
The standardization of technologies will be vitally important as the digitalization of operations is promoted by thenational government and society.
Japan is currently reviewing the electronic management systems of national administrative records, and NAJ is
researching and considering the long-term preservation of electronic public records. Our consideration of these issues
up to 2023 has been based on "standard formats" that pose little risk to long-term preservation, and we are now
surveying verification tests to establish rules for conversion to long-term preservation formats.
ii) Provision and Dissemination of Technical Information
At NAJ, we have been providing support for the digital archiving of local government archives by supplying information
on system standard specifications.
In the context of digitalization of the government and society, local governments also need to support technicalassistance.
NAJ is considering providing information such as basic knowledge concerning the creation and preservation of Electronic
Records and Archives to aim to ensure the long-term preservation of electronic public records.
It is important to encourage national and local governments staff involved in the creation and preservation of electronic
public records, to first acquire basic knowledge and then apply it to their respective operations.
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NAJ intend to actively focus on our initiatives from this perspective in the future.

5． A New National Archives of Japan for the Digital Age
The construction of a new NAJ building is underway at Tokyo, starting in 2023 and taking approximately five years, to bebuilt "in front area of the National Diet Building, where the three powers of the country are concentrated, andaccessible for many citizens." The facility will be constructed under the concept of "symbolizing the importance ofpublic records, a shared intellectual resource of citizens that underpins democracy" and "a place to convey the shape ofthe country and the memory of the nation.”*At NAJ, we have been considering the operations and services expected from the opening of the new facility, and wehave been working to construct appropriate operational systems and workflows, and develop appropriate systems.
The new National Archives of Japan will open in the Digital Age, when records are created, managed, preserved, andused as electronic data. In terms of services, various services related to the preservation and use of historical publicrecords and archives, which were previously conducted physically, will be conducted electronically.
Accordingly, we must adopt workflows and services to seamlessly integrate the physical world with the electronic world,
as the archives model in the Digital Age.
Open 2028
Location: the front area ofNational Diet
Facility: 3 floors above ground, 4floors below ground **Total Area: 42,421㎡ ****The facility is built together
with the Parliamentary Museum.
* The author summarized from "The basic plan to build the new facility of the National Archives," decided by the cabinet office Minister of special missions, March 30, 2018. See the website of the cabinet office,about “the basic plan,” and other information of construction. https://www8.cao.go.jp/chosei/koubun/shinkan/shinkan.html,

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6． Conclusion
With present-day digital technologies, it will not be difficult to realize various concepts for service in the new National
Archives of Japan. But initiatives to provide technical support and assistance on Electronic Records are becoming
more important, requiring more active commitment and needing more knowledge and skill in advanced technology.
And also, in Japan we are working toward a unified record management system for administrative organizations,however, there are also a variety of operational work systems already in operation, that will be a challenge in thefuture.
The speed and impact of recent changes in digital technologies and services is significant, and can materially change
the current operational environment, and our studies cannot always keep up with the emergence of newtechnologies and services.
However, even as we face these major changes in our operational environment in the Digital Age,
there is actually not much difference between our approach to preserving paper records over time and our approachto preserving electronic records.
Because the number of records to keep will naturally be limited after many years of judgment concerning whether topreserve records within an extent acceptable to society or to destroy them.
When we have concerns about the treatment of electronic records, we should continue to respond in accordancewith the common sense of the time.
In this way, Archives in the digital age will provide a variety of services based on the needs of the new age, while
responding to issues in the most common-sense way, even given the background of advanced knowledge andtechnology.

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