Japan's critical infrastructure is dependent on cloud services operated by American companies, with My Number and Ministry of Defense data also being consolidated in external data centers. This report covers the current situation and future developments, including Tokyo's agreement.
Business systems jointly used by Japan's central government ministries and agencies have been running on Amazon's servers since October 2020, with American companies taking the lead through the Government Cloud framework solicited by the Digital Agency.
Google, Microsoft and Oracle have joined the cloud framework centered on American companies, with formal certification ultimately expected in March 2026. It has been pointed out that resident registries and My Number data are also managed on this infrastructure.
Tokyo entered into an agreement with Google on 16 September 2025 and set out a policy of jointly advancing the digitalization of government administration and the use of AI. Google's cooperation is said to have the potential to affect the future operation of government data.
Amid this dependence on cloud services, concerns have been raised that data security and the legal propriety of these arrangements may become points of contention. Debate is expected to continue over the location of data and the management framework, alongside efforts to enhance government services through the use of AI.