Statistics Bureau (Japan)


The Statistics Bureau of Japan or SB/'SBJ' is the statistical agency of Japan, subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The SBJ have conducted the Population Census and large-scale surveys to establish key official statistics of Japan. It is also in charge of the management of the public online system of official statistics, international cooperation with other countries' statistics offices, and research and [|publication] regarding statistics.
Its headquarters is in the ministry's Second Government Office, in, Shinjuku, Tokyo, near Wakamatsu-kawada Station of the subway Toei Ōedo Line.
The and the MIC are in the same building.

Brief history of the SBJ and related organizations

Japan's official statistics system is so "decentralized"
that various ministries and agencies have their own statistical departments. The SBJ is the oldest among them. The SBJ's chronological table starts from 1871, when the pre-constitutional Meiji government founded the Statistics Division under the system, appointing to its director. After frequent changes in the government organization, the Cabinet Statistics Bureau was established in 1885 with the Cabinet system starting. In 1920 it was reorganized as Census Office to conduct the first Census, but in 1922 it was re-reorganized to the Statistics Bureau as an agency of the Cabinet. Since then, it has used the name of Statistics Bureau. Despite some changes in its affiliation, it has kept the identity at least since the 1880s.
Among the 54 designated by the government under the , the SBJ makes 13 through statistical surveys, for example, Population Census, Labour Force Survey, and Family Income and Expenditure Survey.
Derived statistics produced from a mixture of existing statistics such as Population Estimates and Consumer Price Index as well as register-based statistics of companies and establishments - Statistical business register - are also within the SBJ's coverage.
The SBJ thus conducts a number of nation-wide cyclic surveys. However, the SBJ is located in the capital city and has no local branch. For nation-wide surveys, each local government's statistical division, called, conducts survey work in behalf of the SBJ. This system was started for the first Population Census in 1920 and legally established in 1947 with fiscal backup from the national budget. Other ministries also use this system to conduct nation-wide surveys, unless they use their own local branch offices.

Organization

The organization of the MIC follows the . The following explanations are based on the articles of the Cabinet Order as on April 25, 2024, but English translations are from the information dated September 2021.

Statistical Survey Department

Based on the Article 2 of the Cabinet Order, the SBJ has the Statistical Survey Department to conduct the census and surveys. The following divisions have been established under this Department.
  • Population Census Division is in charge of the Population Census, Population Estimates, and other statistical surveys on demography, workforce, housing, and land use.
  • Economic Statistics Division is in charge of statistical surveys of companies or their offices and factories.
  • Consumer Statistics Division is in charge of statistics on consumers and prices including the Consumer Price Index.
  • Survey Planning Division is in charge of a variety of derived statistics as well as general matters for this Department.

    Other divisions

The Articles 110–114 of the Cabinet Order also have provisions about the following divisions under the SBJ.
  • Statistical Business Register Management Division is in charge of data collection regarding Statistical Business Register.
  • Statistics Information Utilization Promotion Division is in charge of promotion of public use of statistics and microdata, publication and dissemination of knowledge about official statistics, and management of #Library and museum.
  • General Affairs Division is in charge of general matters for the SBJ as well as the management of #National Statistics Center and #Statistical Research and Training Institute.
  • Director for Management of Statistical Information Systems is in charge of the information systems for the SBJ and for [|the MIC's Director-General for Policy Planning], including the.

    Cooperation within the central statistical system

The SBJ cooperates with other entities in the central government, such as the NSTAC, the Director-General for Policy Planning of the MIC, the, and the Statistical Research and Training Institute, as well as the statistical departments from various ministries.

National Statistics Center

The National Statistics Center was historically a segment of the SBJ specializing in tabulation. In 1984, this segment was separated from the SBJ to establish the NSTAC. In 2003, it became an Incorporated Administrative Agency. It processes data for various ministries including the SBJ.
The NSTAC and the SBJ also collaborate to develop the Inter-Ministry Information System for Official Statistics, the public online system for statistical surveys and data use. It includes subsystems as follows:
  • Portal Site of Official Statistics: e-Stat
  • Portal site for secondary use of microdata: miripo
  • Online Survey System: e-survey
  • Statistical Business Register
The Statistical Data Utilization Center is a new institution run by the SBJ and the NSTAC. It was established in 2018 in Wakayama to offer services of on-site use of microdata, training of statisticians, and consulting about the use of statistics.

MIC Director-General for Policy Planning

The Statistics Act provides that the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications has the authority of planning and supervising the whole of the official statistics system, following the advice of the Statistics Commission. The minister delegates these tasks to the Director-General for Policy Planning since 2005.
The authority of supervision and planning of the official statistics system derived from the former Statistics Commission . Since the abortion of the Commission in 1952, its responsibilities had been taken by the Commissioner of the consulting the Statistics Council, the advisory board with expert statisticians. For this purpose, the Administrative Management Agency included the Statistical Standards Department. The Department inherited the function of the Statistics Commission.
As a result of the restructuring of governmental organizations in 1984, the Statistical Standards Department was merged into the SBJ. The Department had thus subordinated to the SBJ from 1984 to 2005. During this period, the government organizations were restructured again in 2001, by which the SBJ moved to the MIC.
In 2005, the MIC disestablished the Statistical Standards Department and transferred its functions to one of the Director-Generals for Policy Planning of the ministry. This position was initially referred to as in charge of "Statistical Standards", but since 2021 it has been in charge of "Statistical Policy".
This Director-General of the MIC is also in charge of international communication with statistics offices of other countries, in collaboration with the SBJ.

Statistics Commission

The new Statistics Commission was established by the full amendment of the Statistics Act in 2007. It is a council handling the official statistics system, made up from 13 or fewer academic experts. It was a substitute for the Statistics Council, but was provided a broader authority. The revision of the Statistics Act in 2018 further extended the Commission's authority to control the whole of the official statistics. It manages the Master Plan Concerning the Development of Official Statistics, reviews the plan and process of each of fundamental statistics, maintains statistical standards such as, and supervises the anonymization of micro data for secondary use of statistics.

Inter-ministry activities

The statistical departments from various ministries, including the SBJ, hold conferences to discuss issues on official statistics. During 2001–2007, when the Statistics Council lost the authority to actively offer its opinion to the government as a result of the 2001 Central Government Reform, these inter-ministry conferences were the substantial opportunity for decisions on technical matters regarding the statistics system.

Statistical Research and Training Institute

The is located in Kokubunji in the west of Tokyo Prefecture. It has its root in the Statistics Staff Training Institute established in 1921. It became an independent educational institute of the MIC in 2003 and included the function of research that had been performed by the SBJ in 2017. The institute has thus conducted research of statistical technologies as well as training of statisticians. The SBJ is in charge of affairs related to the Institute.

Library and museum

The Statistical Library is officially a branch of the National Diet Library. It holds collections related to statistics as well as unpublished tables on microfilm. The Statistical Library also offers a reference service on the use of statistics of Japan. The SBJ is in charge of the management of the library.
The SBJ also runs the Statistical Museum. This museum holds historical materials regarding Japan's official statistics.

Publication

The SBJ compiles statistical yearbooks such as Japan Statistical Yearbook, Statistical Handbook of Japan, and Statistical Observations of Prefectures, as well as reports of the censuses and surveys the SBJ conducted.
It has also edited books on the SBJ's history and historical documents related to official statistics.