Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), reflecting the government’s effort to make one PC available for every employee. With respect to access to networks from PCs, nearly 80% of PCs were connected to networks, with 77.7% via LAN and 2.2% via hosts other than LAN.

In tandem with the development of an e-government at the national level, local governments and agencies have also implemented various measures by maximizing the advantages of advanced information and communications technologies in order to rationalize and advance administrative procedures, to improve services for residents, to develop local regions, and to rectify information differentials among regions. During fiscal 2001 a total of 2,751 public entities set up their own Web sites (a 25.5% increase over the previous year). In addition, there were 319,915 PCs available in prefectural governments (a 21.3% increase over the previous year) and 561,721 PCs in municipal (city, town, and villages) governments (a 45.0% increase over the previous year). The installation of LAN has been undertaken steadily. 100% of prefectural governments and 88.6% of municipal governments have now installed LAN. Furthermore, as part of the development of an environment for digitizing the processing of applications and notices in municipal governments and agencies, there were 55 on-line applications and notices (a 1.0% digitization rate) available in fiscal 2001. It is anticipated that by the end of fiscal 2002 there will be 3,055 on-line applications and notices (a 59.3% digitization rate), and by the end of fiscal 2004, 4,914 on-line applications and notices (a 95.4% digitization rate), practically completing the digitization of all administrative procedures.

## The Current Status of E-Municipalities

Local governments and agencies have been maximizing the benefits of advanced information and communications technologies while keeping in mind the actual situation of their respective localities such as the circumstances of the local residents and the structure of local industries. Given the foregoing, a number of measures have been implemented such as the offering of high-quality public administrative services that can properly meet the increasingly sophisticated and diversified needs of local residents and businesses, the revitalization of socioeconomic activities by laying the groundwork for an information and communications infrastructure, and the creation of a public administration that is simplified, rationalized, and transparent by reviewing overall administrative procedures.

A survey has shown that one of the benefits of having an e-municipality most desired by local residents and businesses is the speeding up of administrative procedures, followed by the enhanced convenience of public administration services and the reduced cost of public administration services. In addition, the survey has shown that local residents and businesses access the Web sites of municipalities and public agencies largely because they are accessible 24 hours a day, there is no need to visit

Exhibit 1-18 Local Governments’ Self-Evaluation of Their E-Government Services

Source: Survey of Administrative Information Intensification in Local Government, MPHPT (2002)