Little has been written with regards to the meaning and the purview of “secrecy” as stipulated in Paragraph 2, Article 21 of the Constitution of Japan. In my view, it should be understood that secrecy should be viewed objectively regardless of the intentions of the communicating parties (senders and receivers). It is also worth noting that secrecy matters only between public authorities or communications service providers and communicating parties. Thus, the concept of secrecy arises based on the trust that communications users generally have in them, and is irrelevant in relation to third parties that are unrelated to the communication. In this regard, the notion of secrecy is clearly differentiated from that of privacy. Therefore, it is not necessarily appropriate to interpret the implications of “secrecy of communications” solely as a protection of privacy. In other words, protection of secrecy should be understood as encompassing various safeguards instituted by legal frameworks, including privacy protection, which should be guaranteed by law under the Constitution. In these safeguards, not only protection of privacy but also other elements such as security of communications should be ensured by properly-established communications institutions so that the general public may use communications channels with sufficient safety and reliability. Finally, some theories suggest a distinction between secrecy of communication's content and that of its metadata such as telephone numbers and records on communications dates. However, these theories are not appropriate given that communication's content and metadata are indivisible and are interrelated.

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The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of the use of new and traditional media in post-disaster recovery after the Great East Japan Earthquake using data collected from the disaster area in March 2013. This study found that the use of both new (Web 2.0 applications) and traditional (informative television programmes) media can create some positive but indirect effects on the development of social capital elements that are critical for post-disaster recovery such as bonding trust, bridging networks and civic participation. These effects are mediated by online civic participation, which itself can be encouraged by the complementary use of television and Web 2.0 applications. By showing the effects and the mechanisms of the use of media on social capital development, the findings have some important implications for researchers as well as authorities and NGOs that are working on post-disaster recovery.

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This study examined activity on the Facebook page “Tsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square” operated by the municipal government of Tsukuba with the cooperation of the University of Tsukuba and Intel Corporation. We investigated what elements would direct people interested in civic activities or civil society organizations to participate in this SNS page. This study compared the effectiveness between 1) advertisement campaigns and 2) face-to-face communication for promoting participation in SNSs and subsequent activity through the social network. Through this comparison, we observed that the clicks of the “like” button for the Tsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square and the “reach” of the page increased more during the advertisement campaign period. However, this study observed no increase in “actions” during the advertisement campaign period. In contrast, regardless of the number of participants, face-to-face communication facilitated through social events increased the number of “actions” in the Tsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square and “actions” increased even more prominently among those that previously clicked the “like” button for the Tsukuba Civic Activities Cyber-Square.

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Under the Act on General Rules for Application of Laws, there is a question in controversy over the Right of Publicity. This article explores case law and scholarly works in some domains including copyright and privacy and argues the following interpretation of the Right of Publicity in the Act. First, the scope of the Article 19 of the Act should be limited to moral rights, which stem from human dignity. Second, the Right of Publicity should be characterized as a kind of protection against unfair competition under the Act. Third, in Right of Publicity infringement cases, the governing law for both injunction and damage claims should be decided by the Article 17 or 20 of the Act.

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Stimulating broadband diffusion seems to be a significant national agenda in both developed and developing countries. Regulation that contributes to creating an investment-friendly environment has long been adopted by policymakers and has captured much attention among academic researchers as well. In recent years, governments have been strongly in favor of direct public intervention to stimulate broadband deployment and adoption. However, only a handful of research studies have explicitly analyzed the ex-post effectiveness of those policies for broadband promotion. This is owing to several reasons, including the difficulty of gathering adequate information for a number of countries. This paper examines the working and performance of public policies on the supply and demand sides. Empirical analysis suggests that demand side policies have a significantly positive impact on broadband penetration.

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In the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, people recognized the limitations of the administrative activities during a large-scale wide-area disaster. Furthermore, people became particularly aware of the importance of “self-help” and “mutual help.” Consequently, the government amended the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act in June 2013 and established the Community Disaster Management Plan to strategize disaster management and response activities by businesses and residents of the local community. On the other hand, people are focused on the role of ICT in disaster response and are worried about the Nankai Trough and Tokyo Inland Earthquakes. In this study, we analyze the relationship between ICT and the Community Disaster Management Plan after the Great East Japan Earthquake on the basis of the Community Disaster Management Plan guidelines.

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