Japan is said to have suffered a “digital defeat” because of the confusion and delay in its digital response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The causes for these problems are threefold: (1) the strong viewpoint of the supply side, (2) vertically divided administrations in each ministry, and (3) differing national and local systems. These issues have been characteristic of Japan's ICT strategy over the past 20 years, but there is also a success story–that of digital infrastructure development. In this paper, to promote movement towards a digitally advanced country, I would like to raise the following points: to invite people with diverse perspectives and values to participate in the decision-making; to distinguish the concepts of digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation; to keep the definitions simple and clear so that everyone in the nation can understand them; and to clarify and share concepts and policies that appropriately identify overall trends and directions.
