Privacy Policy

Glossary of Personal Information

About personal information

The term personal information refers to information concerning a living individual that could be used to identify him or her, such as name, birth date, or other descriptive information.
It also includes information that could be used to identify a specific individual through simple comparison to other information.
For example, although the code/number shown on your health insurance card cannot be used to identify you by itself, it qualifies as personal information because it could be used to identify you through simple comparison to other information.

About personal data

The term personal data refers to personal information in a personal information database, etc.
Personal information database, etc. refers to a collection of information including personal information organized in a structured manner to make it possible to search for and retrieve specific personal information using a computer, or a collection of personal information processed in paper form without using a computer and sorted or categorized in accordance with specific rules (for example, alphabetical order or birth date) to allow any third party to easily retrieve specific personal information using a table of contents, index, symbols, etc.

About personal data held

The term 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.
Personal data held excludes the following: 1) information of which revealing the existence would be detrimental to the public interest or other interests; 2) information deleted within six months (excluding information updated during that period)

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 of the person responsible for management of the relevant personal data 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

Individual identification codes refer to either of the codes under (1) and (2) below, as specified in government ordinances or rules:

• (1) Any physical attributes converted into codes for computer use DNA, face, iris, voice print, gait, hand or finger veins, or palm print
• (2) Numbers assigned to individuals concerned in services or documents Passport no., basic pension no., license no., certificate of residence code, Individual Number (My Number), various insurance cards, etc.* * Insurance card codes/numbers qualify as individual identification codes.

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

The term specific personal information refers to personal information including Individual Numbers (My Numbers).
Even with the consent of the individual concerned, such information may not be used beyond the extent necessary to achieve the specified purposes of use.
The purposes of use are limited to taxation, social security, and disaster control measures.