National Printing Bureau - Official Gazette

The Official Gazette has a mission to serve as a vehicle for both government public relations and public pronouncements. It is used for promulgating laws, ordinances, treaties, and other national commitments, and for releasing reports and materials compiled by various governmental organs.
It also publishes pronouncements in accordance with the provisions of laws. The Official Gazette thus plays a very important role as a means for the government to provide official publications to the people.
Japan’s first Official Gazette was issued in 1883 (Meiji 16). The Official Gazette was initially edited and issued by the Cabinet Document Bureau. These tasks were then assumed by the Cabinet Official Gazette Bureau, and then by the Printing Bureau under the Ministry of Finance. Since April 2003 (Heisei 15), the Official Gazette has been issued daily, excluding administrative holidays, by the National Printing Bureau, now an incorporated administrative agency. The bureau now provides online information contained in the Official Gazette through "The Online Official Gazette Service" and "The Official Gazette Search Service."

Roles of Official Gazette

One of the most important roles of the Official Gazette has been the “promulgation of laws”, including the Constitution, Imperial Rescripts, laws, government and ministerial ordinances, treaties, and notifications. Promulgation means “enabling the general public to know about an established law by publishing the law. A statute law is established by completing a certain legislation procedure, but in order to become binding it must meet the requirements for promulgation.” (Source: “Horei Yogo Jiten” (Dictionary of Legal Terms) from Gakuyo Shobo.)

To serve the role as a public relations vehicle, the Official Gazette publishes widely to the general public government-related information, ranging from parliamentary matters, personnel transfers, investitures, honors, decorations, and imperial matters, to government agency reports (national examinations, public hearings, public announcement of land prices, etc.) and government agency materials (Cabinet decisions, international account status, etc.).

"Pronouncement" means making a matter known to the general public. Pronouncements published in the Official Gazette include:

Pronouncements from various government agencies, including returns of confiscated goods and revocations of builder licenses;
Government procurements in accordance with WTO rules;
Pronouncements from governmental corporations, including ten-day business reports of the Bank of Japan;
Pronouncements from municipal corporations, including bond lotteries/redemptions and announcements of deceased travelers;
Pronouncements from courts, including nullification judgments, bankruptcies, and corporate reorganizations; and
Pronouncements from companies, including merger notifications and account statements.

Digital Signature and Time Stamp

Online Official Gazette ServiceSince July 15, 2003 (Heisei 15), a digital signature and a time stamp have been attached to the Official Gazette delivered via the Official Gazette Search Service Online.

Official Gazette PDF file with a digital signature and a time stampA digital signature is a technology used in place of a handwritten signature or seal impression. By using a digital signature, it becomes possible to detect modification to a digital document and to authenticate the author of the document.
A time stamp is a technology to certify the date and time at which the current version of a digital document was created. It certifies how long the document has existed and that the document has not been altered by any third party or by the author.
Both a digital signature and a time stamp are attached to the PDF files which contain digitized pages of the Official Gazette.

Verify digital signatureThe first step in attaching a digital signature is to create a digital signature by obtaining and encrypting a digital certificate (which certifies that the document was really created by the National Printing Bureau) and a hash value for the Official Gazette PDF file. The digital signature thus created, together with the digital certificate, are embedded into the Official Gazette PDF file, resulting in a digitally signed Official Gazette PDF file. This process is performed on every page of a PDF file.
A hash value, also called a message digest, is a fixed-length value generated from a given original text by using an irreversible one-way function (hash function). It is extremely difficult to derive the original text from a hash value or to create a new text using the same hash value. Therefore, a comparison of hash values allows verification of whether the text in the received file is identical to the original text.
A digital signature can be verified by performing the reverse of the process used to attach the signature. More specifically, the digital signature within the Official Gazette PDF file is decoded, and the hash value in the signature is compared against the hash value in the Official Gazette PDF file obtained through a separate calculation. If the two hash values match, it means that the file has not been modified.
In addition, the validity of an embedded digital certificate is verified via the Internet. This process is required to verify if the received digital certificate is currently valid, because a digital certificate is valid for only a specific period, such as five years.

Verify time stampThe Official Gazette uses digital time stamps issued by Amano Time Business Corporation.
Like the process of attaching a digital signature, the process of attaching a time stamp begins with obtaining a hash value for an Official Gazette PDF file. This hash value is sent to Amano Timing Center via the Internet. At the timing center, the hash value is encrypted, together with accurate time information based on an atomic clock, and sent back to the National Printing Bureau. The received time stamp is embedded into the Official Gazette PDF file, resulting in a time-stamped Official Gazette PDF file.
The time stamp is verified, also using a process similar to the one used for a digital signature. Modification can be detected by confirming the time information accompanying the time stamp and comparing its hash value against that for the Official Gazette PDF file obtained through a separate calculation.
Since digital data is easier to modify or doctor than paper documents, technologies like these, which prevent modification or impersonation, are expected to be become increasingly important.
The National Printing Bureau was among the early adaptors of these technologies to protect Official Gazette information delivered via the Internet. The bureau’s continuous efforts to increase reliability through improved security have provided users with greater assurance, and its advanced strategies have earned it a high reputation from external entities.

Please note that the Internet version of the Official Gazette contains a digital signature only. You are encouraged to try to verify a digital signature by using the verification software, which can be obtained free-of-charge by downloading from the National Printing Bureau homepage.