Hello everyone, I'm Tak@! I usually work as a system integrator, involved in various system development projects, and I also enjoy developing web services.

In this column, I'd like to explore how "Team Mirai's Manifesto ver. 1.0," which was recently announced, might impact our lives and businesses, all from the perspective of someone who builds systems.

What Team Mirai Aims For: A Society That Leaves No One Behind

Team Mirai aims to build a future where no one in society is left behind, leveraging the power of digital technologies, including AI. Their vision stems from the challenging circumstances Japan currently faces.

Over the past two decades, our nation has seen average annual incomes stagnate, and our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has remained flat. Meanwhile, our low birthrate and aging population continue to advance, and the working-age population, which forms the core of our workforce, keeps shrinking. While new internet-related industries are rapidly emerging worldwide, Japan unfortunately recognizes that it's lagging in the digital field.

To overcome this situation, Team Mirai believes that now, with AI's astonishingly rapid advancements, is a crucial opportunity to use technology for good and solve these challenges. They propose three stages for implementing their policies: "fully embracing digital era norms," "building flexible and adaptable systems," and "boldly investing in long-term growth." These include ideas like making complex administrative procedures digitally user-friendly and using AI to improve educational quality.

As someone involved in system development, I deeply resonate with their direction. Technology isn't just a tool. I believe it holds immense potential to solve the problems our society faces and enrich people's lives. This manifesto concretely illustrates that potential, giving us hope for the future.

The First Big Step: Fully Embracing "Digital Era Norms"

The first stage of the manifesto sets a clear goal: "fully embracing digital era norms." This is based on the idea that many of Japan's challenges aren't technologically new; they can be solved by adopting and embedding already established digital technologies and methods into society.

In other words, there's significant room for growth in Japanese society right now by pushing forward with digitalization.

Making Government Services More Accessible

The goal of making administrative procedures "no visits, no writing, no waiting, no confusion" will be very appealing to many people. By further advancing online procedures and expanding the use of My Number Cards, we expect to see more procedures that no longer require a trip to the government office.

For example, developing the "Idobata System," which allows citizens to exchange opinions online, is a crucial initiative to facilitate discussion and consensus building. Additionally, the development of "Kōchō AI" (Public Opinion AI) is progressing, designed to efficiently categorize and analyze the large volume of opinions submitted through public comments (requests for public input on policies, etc.). This will enable the government to quickly grasp more opinions with less effort. Similar projects in the UK and US have shown significant reductions in work hours by eliminating duplicate opinions and automatically extracting themes.

Furthermore, there are plans to develop visualization tools that make the flow of political funds easily accessible to anyone. This should increase political transparency and spark public interest in politics. Support will also be provided to local governments to develop their own apps, by offering open-source systems (freely usable and modifiable) to be rolled out nationwide. When government agencies outsource system development to external companies, they plan to reduce unnecessary costs by creating prototypes beforehand to clearly define what kind of system is needed.

AI and IT will also be used to improve how civil servants work. Eliminating faxes and paper documents and introducing modern business tools will enhance employees' digital skills. AI-assisted workflows will help categorize and analyze public comments, make paper documents searchable, and database internal documents for cross-departmental search. AI will also be used in legislative support, with tools developed to find similar bills and analyze past discussions.

Efforts to make legal information more user-friendly are also underway. Currently complex and hard-to-understand legal provisions will have their revision history and effective dates visualized, and information will be provided via APIs (systems for connecting different systems) so companies and local governments can automatically update their own rules. There's also a plan to fully digitize election candidacy procedures, which are currently paper-based and require in-person visits, making them uniform nationwide.

Reducing the Burden of Childcare and Healthcare

In the childcare sector, the realization of a "Digital Maternal and Child Health Handbook" is envisioned. This passport is expected to significantly reduce the burden of picking up a physical handbook or managing vaccination schedules on paper during the often-unstable period of pregnancy. Additionally, the establishment of a portal site for childcare consultations, with collaboration between AI and experts, is being considered, which would enable "push-type support" that delivers necessary information to those who need it.

In healthcare, the aim is to accelerate the widespread adoption of online medical consultations and establish systems for home delivery of medications, striving for "no-visit clinic visits." The introduction of AI for image diagnostics is also progressing, expected to reduce doctors' burden while improving diagnostic accuracy. Support will also be provided for the adoption of smart reception systems and cashless payments in hospitals to reduce waiting times. I believe these initiatives will be a great help for those who find it difficult to access medical care amidst their busy daily lives.

Enhancing the Quality of Welfare and Education

In the welfare sector, technology will be used to ensure that people who need support can access appropriate welfare services without confusion. For example, AI chatbots will answer questions and automatically notify users of necessary information. Furthermore, introducing AI into the disability pension and public assistance certification processes will increase transparency and fairness in examinations and streamline staff operations. To make information accessible to those who have difficulty reading, the goal is to create an environment where everyone can access information easily by using Plain Japanese, text with furigana (reading aids), illustrations, and pictograms.

In education, there's a fascinating idea of providing a "dedicated AI assistant" to each child. AI will support learning tailored to each student's learning progress and interests, helping them develop their ability to think for themselves. Additionally, to reduce the workload of teachers, AI and IT tools will be actively introduced, allowing teachers to spend more time interacting with children. For instance, AI could easily facilitate multilingual communication with families of foreign children. To foster children's AI knowledge and usage skills, there are considerations for establishing a new "Information" subject in junior high schools and creating advanced high schools specializing in AI.

As a system integrator, I have a very positive impression of this thorough pursuit of "digital era norms." Rather than developing new, special technologies, I believe that by spreading existing technologies to every corner of society, many inconveniences in our daily lives will be resolved. This initiative should reduce the small stresses we feel daily, allowing us to use our time more productively.

The Power to Embrace Change: "Flexible System Building"

The second stage of the manifesto is "building flexible and adaptable systems." Modern society is changing at an unprecedented scale and speed, with unstable international situations and rapid AI evolution. In such an unpredictable era, Team Mirai believes that social systems need to possess "resilience" and the "ability to respond quickly and intelligently" even when faced with significant changes.

Agile Governance

In the realm of government, one challenge is that legal reforms often can't keep pace with technological advancements. To solve this, they propose introducing a "policy cycle that tolerates failure and learns quickly based on data." This applies the principles of agile development—where a small prototype (MVP) is first created, then refined incrementally based on user feedback during actual operation—to policymaking. This approach aims to reduce the risk of large, one-time system orders that tie the government to specific vendors, allowing for more flexible responses to changing circumstances.

Tax and social security systems also aim for "smooth tax and social security," where adjustments are made automatically in line with prices and wages. By eliminating "cliffs" where people suddenly become disadvantaged at certain income thresholds, and by creating a fairer, more predictable system, citizens can live with greater peace of mind.

The deepening of digital democracy is also a crucial point. In traditional public comment systems, there were issues like too many opinions for the government to process, or "majority manipulation" where the same opinions were submitted multiple times. Team Mirai aims to use AI to structure and visualize these opinions through "broad listening," seeking to uncover "unspoken voices." As someone who has worked with Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in financial system development, I've reaffirmed the weight of security. In systems designed to collect citizen feedback, ensuring transparency and security while fostering constructive discussion is paramount. This will allow AI to facilitate discussions and help build consensus, even on complex policy issues where values and interests often conflict.

Flexibility in Healthcare, Education, and Welfare

In the healthcare sector, a system is being considered to review the age-based self-payment ratios stipulated in the National Health Insurance Act and the Act on Securing Medical Care for the Elderly, and to adjust self-payment amounts more precisely based on the "effectiveness" and "importance" of medical care. Furthermore, by introducing a "medical outcome evaluation system" where medical institutions receive additional remuneration based on treatment results, and by promoting the standardization and interoperability of electronic medical records, the aim is to reduce the burden on healthcare settings while encouraging the provision of high-quality medical care.

In education, the goal is to use AI to create "customized" curricula tailored to each child's individuality and learning pace. Instead of the current uniform education, providing learning suited to each child is expected to foster deeper understanding and curiosity. They also aim to promote the use of educational data and introduce AI-driven outcome measurement and evaluation cycles to objectively verify policy effectiveness and continuously improve.

In the welfare sector, a mechanism is proposed to provide more detailed and prompt support to children with disabilities and their families. Through an online platform called "Family Support Hub (tentative name)," information on necessary support services, allowances, and facilities will be centrally managed, and application procedures can be completed online. "Push-type support" will also be realized, where AI analyzes the user's situation and needs and automatically suggests relevant systems and services.

To detect children in difficult situations such as young carers, child poverty, and child abuse early and provide continuous necessary support, the establishment of AI-powered screening systems and consultation windows is being considered. Furthermore, to increase employment for people with disabilities, they plan to develop AI-powered work navigation tools and AI coaching features for corporate representatives, supporting less experienced companies to confidently employ and retain people with disabilities.

From a system integrator's perspective, I feel that these initiatives are like a "constitutional improvement" for society's systems to flexibly adapt in this rapidly changing era. It's not about building something once and being done; constantly evolving the system to match the situation is a technical challenge, but more than that, it requires a strong will to make society better.

Investing in the Future: "Boldly Investing in Long-Term Growth"

The third pillar of the manifesto is the idea of "boldly investing in long-term growth." Team Mirai points out that with Japan's economic prosperity, or "pie," currently shrinking, the effects of even fair distribution will be limited. They strongly assert that active investment in cutting-edge technologies, including AI, is indispensable for achieving sustainable economic growth.

Strengthening the Nation through Science and Technology

In the field of science and technology, Japan's research capabilities are currently stagnant on an international level. One reason for the low number of high-quality papers is thought to be that researchers can't focus on their core research due to administrative burdens. To solve this, they aim to reduce the administrative burden of research grant applications and reports using AI and IT, creating an environment where researchers can conduct research freely and long-term. For example, they plan to introduce a "Research Management System (RMS)" to centralize the management of research funds, personnel, and equipment, thereby streamlining administrative tasks and enabling early detection of misconduct.

They are also addressing the issues of few students pursuing doctoral degrees and limited career paths for researchers. They plan to establish "career return programs" and "talent sharing programs" that allow personnel to move between companies and government agencies, supporting researchers to flexibly transition between academia (universities/research institutions) and industry. This will accelerate the speed at which research outcomes are put to use in society, fostering the creation of new technologies.

Furthermore, they will make concentrated investments in deep tech fields—technologies that take a long time to commercialize and carry high technical risks, but hold the potential for significant societal impact (e.g., robotics, laser technology, material science, regenerative medicine, space technology). They see these fields as key to Japan's future international competitiveness. Tax reforms to make it easier for universities to raise research funds through donations are also being considered, with the aim of establishing a Japanese version of Donor-Advised Funds (DAF), modeled after those in the United States.

Bold Investment in Education and Industry

In the education sector, the policy is to increase education budgets through AI-driven operational efficiency, investing in education that fosters children's curiosity and the "power to initiate." They will also actively support the development and introduction of EdTech (educational technology) in schools, with the goal of equipping schools nationwide with high-speed internet and high-performance devices.

In the industrial sector, they will provide financial and tax support, as well as assistance for "reskilling" to learn AI-related skills, to enable all companies, including SMEs, to incorporate AI into their operations. This aims to increase the productivity of Japan's entire industry and strengthen its international competitiveness. To accelerate the social implementation of cutting-edge technologies like autonomous driving and flying cars, there are also plans to establish special zones for pilot projects and to create a system for integrated support from industry, government, and academia for commercialization.

Furthermore, to address information security risks concerning AI utilization by companies, they will promote safe AI adoption by formulating information management guidelines and providing security countermeasures support. Given the massive power requirements for AI's widespread adoption, the energy strategy also includes accelerating technology development and capital investment to secure large-capacity power sources while simultaneously achieving a zero-emission society.

In economic and fiscal management, they also plan to strengthen "scenario planning" to prepare for an uncertain future with the accelerating development of AI. This involves envisioning multiple future scenarios, such as the emergence of human-level AI (AGI) and its significant societal impact, and considering policy responses in advance.

As a system integrator, I feel in my daily work how crucial long-term investment is. Even if immediate results aren't apparent, steady investment in building the foundation for future society will eventually yield significant returns. I believe this manifesto's bold investment plan, looking ahead to the future, will be a powerful driving force for Japan's progress.

My Take: A System Integrator's Perspective

After delving into Team Mirai's Manifesto, what struck me most as a system integrator was the concrete perspective on "how to materialize technology in society." It's not just a declaration of "introducing AI"; the deep dive into how it will alleviate the burden on people on the ground and how it will enrich our lives shares many commonalities with our system development work.

Initiatives like digitizing administrative procedures and transforming healthcare systems digitally all involve significant resistance and friction when changing existing methods. To overcome this, simply having technology isn't enough. It's essential to listen to the voices of the actual users, build trust by accumulating small successes, and gradually expand the changes.

Their philosophy of "creating something that works first, learning from it, and iteratively improving its form, rather than striving for perfection" is exactly what we practice daily with agile development. I have great expectations for the application of this thinking to policymaking.

Of course, not all policies will proceed smoothly as planned. We may encounter unexpected challenges or hit technical limitations. However, I strongly believe that the manifesto's stance of "tolerating failure and learning from data" is a crucial mindset for advancing society in today's unpredictable world.

In Conclusion: Our Lives and "Team Mirai"

Up to this point, I've discussed how Team Mirai's Manifesto could impact our lives and work, from the perspective of someone who builds systems. Their overarching goal is to build a "digital symbiotic society" where no one in our society is left behind, and everyone can enjoy a better future.

AI and digital technologies are not just convenient tools. I believe they hold immeasurable potential to drastically change how we work, make our daily lives more comfortable, listen to voices that were previously unheard, and shape the future of our society.

After reading this manifesto, what kind of future did you envision? How do you think your daily life might change as digitalization progresses?

Each policy they propose deeply relates to our individual lives. I feel it's important to continue paying attention to their activities, and sometimes, to actively voice our own opinions to collaboratively build a better society.

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