Data privacy in Japan : do recent amendments weaken privacy to foster 'big data'?

Abstract

This article shall examine two principal themes which each bear a reflection on the other. The first of these is the manner in which data protection and data privacy has evolved in Japan over time and how the Asian cultural context of respect towards the community has played a significant role in the formation of values relating to the protection of private life, including inter alia norms relating to data protection. In this respect, the second stream of this article shall reflect upon recent amendments to the Japanese Act of the Protection of Personal Information of 2003 and their implications on privacy and on the collection and commercialization of 'Big Data', in the context of the growing importance of Big Data in the entire world but also in Japan, which is linked to increasing computing power and more complex algorithms that allow for deeper data mining and information analysis.