Figure 1-34: Japan’s Concerns and Problems Particularly Needing to Be Addressed (up to three answers)

Source: "Survey on Utilization of IT in National Life."

## (1) Food traceability systems

Problems that would undermine consumer confidence in food, such as food poisoning and tampering, have been occurring frequently in recent years.

To counter such problems, food traceability systems have been proposed to provide consumers with detailed information on individual food products and to make it easier to find the cause and recall problematic food products when an incident occurs. A food traceability system is a system of attaching an ID to individual food products in the production phase to allow anybody to trace the distribution route of those food products via the Internet based on the attached ID.

In a consumer intention survey on the food traceability system, 33.6% of respondents answered that they would buy food products using this system even for prices higher than ordinary food products. According to this result, the needs for food traceability systems are estimated to be worth 104.2 billion yen.

## (2) Monitoring systems for energy conservation

The power consumption in the home sector has increased by about 1.9 times over the 16 years from 1985 to 2001. Today, further energy conservation efforts are required to respond to global environmental issues, such as resource depletion and global warming.

A monitoring system for energy conservation is a system that enables energy saving by monitoring the individual energy consumption amount and status for lighting, air-conditioning, audio/visual equipment, and other equipment at home and offices by using information and communications technology.

In an intention survey on the monitoring system for energy conservation, 36.7% of households accessible to the Internet from home PCs answered that they would like to use the system. If the system were diffused according to this intention, 4.6% (equivalent to 282.6 billion yen annually on an electric charge basis) of the power currently consumed at home nationwide could be expected to be saved.

## (3) Development of occupational skills through e-learning during times of unemployment

The unemployment rate reached 5.2% and the number of unemployed marked 3.49 million in February 2003 due to the stagnation of the economy. In the present job market, mismatches between the skills of job-seekers and the positions that are vacant are presenting a problem as a cause of delaying employment. In order to eliminate such mismatches and promote reemployment of the unemployed, more unemployed people need to receive occupational training and acquire the skills necessary for getting a job.

At present, public vocational training organizations and various entrusted organizations provide occupational training to the unemployed, but in addition to such conventional training that requires the trainees to visit the training sites, educational/training opportunities through e-learning have started to be provided mainly to people with physical restrictions, such as those who have jobs and the physically-challenged, allowing the trainees to learn at home.

In an intention survey on the system for developing occupational skills through e-learning on an assumption of losing one’s job, 30.4% of the respondents answered that they would like to use such a system even if a fee was charged. According to the result of this survey, the number of potential users of the system for developing occupational skills through e-learning at times of unemployment (number of the unemployed) is estimated to be 1.29 million.

## (4) E-learning for lifelong education via the Internet

In line with the aging of the population and maturation of society, and because the skills required at workplaces are rapidly changing due to digitization and global-