On January 25, 2005, the Foundation for C&C Promotion Symposium 2004 "E-Government and Information Accessibility" was held at the Keidanren Kaikan hall, Otemachi. In this symposium, discussions were conducted on the importance of e-government and e-municipality that are supporting the social infrastructure as part of the national strategy, as well as how to ensure information accessibility for elderly or disabled people.

Following the opening speech by Mr. Hajime Sasaki, the Chief Director of the Foundation for C&C Promotion, Mr. Osamu Takenouchi, Assistant Section Chief, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, gave a keynote address on the "Efforts to Ensure Web Accessibility in E-Government"

Mr. Takenouchi explained the progress of computerization in Japan with the aid of statistics, and went on talking about how the government is committed to ensuring information accessibility.
After reviewing the Japanese case, the conditions of accessibility in other countries were reported. Ms. Chika Sekine, President of UDIT Inc., reported on the case of India, where world's largest electronic voting was conducted. Mr. Takashi Kobayashi; Lecturer, School of Politics and Economics, Tokai University; delivered a report on the case of Singapore, where e-government is making significant progress. In addition, Research Analyst Kazuko Yuma at the Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies, reported about the case of Europe, where more active efforts are being made.

In the second part, a panel discussion on the tasks imposed on local governments was held. It started with a report on the survey of accessibility and usability in local governments by Professor Hajime Yamada; Faculty of Economics, Toyo University; and Mr. Naoki Sakakibara, Chief Researcher of UDIT Inc. In cooperation with Toyo University's Yamada Laboratory, this survey examined the steps a user follows before he or she can reach the target site (a tennis court reservation page or an information page about the day of the week when the user is allowed to take out garbage, for example). It also referred to the task of ensuring information accessibility on the Web.

Speakers from local governments took part in this symposium. Mr. Yutaka Shindo; Assistant Manager, Information Technology Promotion Section, Mitaka City; Mr. Fusao Nojiri, Chief Manager, Public Relations Section, Saitama City; and Mr. Akira Ichikawa, Information Management Division, Department of Policy and Planning, Niigata Prefecture reported on the efforts toward the achievement of information accessibility that are being made in each local government while Mr. Makoto Ueki, President of Infoaxia, made a report about the commitment by U.S. local governments.

At the end of this session, questions and answers were exchanged and this symposium was successfully closed. Although the issues of information accessibility in e-government and e-municipality have been settled only halfway, it has been confirmed that everyone is making his/her own way in the same direction. These four hours gave us the opportunity to share the same idea of the importance of improving the information accessibility in e-government and e-municipality, which can be achieved by exchanging information among many relevant organizations that act in cooperation with one another.