Jan 7, 2021 With the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has realized the need to utilize big data — from medical data on infections, to mobile data and traffic data to track the movement of people — to counter the virus. But it has also been faced with the hard realization that there are no international regulations to restrict the use of personal data or reign in major data platforms. The same could be said for Japan, which lacks a comprehensive system that will enable data to be shared among central and local governments and the private sector. Could the nation’s digital agency, which is slated to be launched this year, be a leader in shaping domestic regulations as well as drafting strategies to spearhead international rule-making on data governance?