Privacy Policy

Glossary of Personal Information

About personal information

“Personal information” refers to information concerning living individuals and falling under either of the items below:

• (a) Information that can be used to identify a specific individual, such as name, birth date, or other descriptive information (hereinafter, this refers to any and all items contained or recorded in documents, illustrations, or electromagnetic records [hereinafter, these refer to records prepared electromagnetically {i.e., through electronic, magnetic, or other means that are not perceptible to humans}], or expressed by voice, action, or other means [not including individual identification codes]) (including information that can be used to identify a specific individual through simple comparison with other information)
• (b) Information containing individual identification codes

About personal data

The term personal data refers to personal information in a personal information database, etc.

About personal information databases, etc.

“Personal information databases, etc.” refer to the following collections of information including personal information (not including information stipulated by government ordinances as information for which there is little risk of detriment to individual rights and interests in light of its methods of use).

• (a) Information organized in a structured manner to make it possible to search for specific personal information using a computer
• (b) In addition to the information under (a) above, information organized in a structured manner to make it easy to search for specific personal information as stipulated by government ordinances

About personal data held

“Personal data held” refers to personal data for which an operator handling personal information, such as a health insurance society, is authorized to disclose, correct, make additions to or removal from, suspend use, delete, or suspend provision to third parties and excludes information specified in government ordinances as information of which revealing the existence would be detrimental to the public interest or other interests.

About implicit comprehensive consent

In principle, the consent of the individual concerned must be obtained to use personal information for other than its intended purposes or to provide it to a third party.
However, if it would be beneficial to insured persons, etc. and the scope of use of the personal information normally considered necessary has been made clear on a website or by other means, for purposes such as the provision of insurance benefits, the consent of the individual concerned is assumed to be granted, unless he or she clearly indicates his or her opposition thereto or preference to reserve such rights. This is known as implicit comprehensive consent.

About joint use of personal data

This refers to joint use of personal data with parties identified in advance in cases such as health examinations provided jointly by the Health Insurance Society and operators stipulated in the Industrial Safety and Health Law or the joint use of health examination results to provide follow-up guidance.
Under the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, a joint user of personal data is not considered a third party if the individual concerned is informed in advance of (A) the items of personal data used jointly, (B) the scope of joint users, (C) the purposes of use by the users, and (D) the name or title and address of the person responsible for management of the relevant personal data and in the case of a corporation, the name of its representative, or if items (A) to (D) above have been made easily available to the individual concerned and the fact of joint use is clearly indicated.

About individual identification codes

About individual identification codes
“Individual identification codes” refer to text, numbers, symbols, or other codes falling under either of the items below, as stipulated by government ordinances:

• (a) Text, numbers, symbols, or other codes converted from the physical attributes of specific individuals for use in identifying such individuals
• (b) Unique text, numbers, symbols, or other codes assigned to individuals using services provided or purchasing products sold to them that are shown or electromagnetically recorded on cards or other documents issued to them and can be used to identify specific users, purchasers, or individuals receiving issuance

About sensitive personal information

Sensitive personal information refers to the race, creed, social status, medical history, criminal records, or criminal victim status of the individual concerned or other personal information that includes descriptions as stipulated in government ordinances as requiring particular consideration to ensure that the individual concerned is not treated disadvantageously (e.g., subject to discrimination or bias).

• Physical disability, cognitive disability, or psychological disability
• Health examination results or results of other examinations
• Information on health guidance, examinations and treatment, or prescriptions
• The fact of procedures related to criminal incidents in which the individual concerned was arrested or investigated as a suspect or defendant
• The fact of procedures involving the protection of minors through probation in which the individual concerned was identified as or suspected of being a juvenile delinquent

About specific personal information

“Specific personal information” refers to personal information containing Individual Numbers (including numbers, symbols, and other codes corresponding to Individual Numbers and used in place of such Individual Numbers, other than certificate of residence codes).