Cool article from Card Technology about new driver's licenses in Japan. Excerpts:

Japanese police departments are expected to begin issuing contactless driver’s licenses in the spring of 2006, perhaps the first country to use a contactless card for this purpose on a national scale. The license will replace a plain plastic card carried by about 80 million Japanese, which is also used as a de facto ID card in Japan. The card is frequently counterfeited, which is one of the main reasons the National Police Agency has ordered all local prefectures to begin rolling out cards within five years. The licenses will also make it easier for officers to fill out traffic citations and make sure those citations are file properly.

The national ID or residency card is voluntary few citizens have requested it. That won’t be a problem for the driver’s license, which is mandatory for licensed driver’s to carry. Local prefectures together issue about 20 million licenses per year, says Junichi Sakaki, head of the technical committee advising the government on the chip-based driver’s license.

The 8-kilobyte chip will carry the same information as printed on the front of the card, along with a digital photo of the cardholder and a digital certificate. This certificate and associated private key stored on the chip will be used to verify the authenticity of the data. Police officers will carry portable readers to view the contents of the chip.

But since driver’s licenses are also used by banks, hotels, video stores and other establishments to check ID, project organizers expect these establishments to install readers, too. There is even talk of Japanese car makers, such as Toyota Motor Corp., eventually equipping some models with readers that could automatically adjust seats and mirrors to the cardholder’s preferences. Because of privacy concerns, the government has made it clear the cards will not store the cardholder’s driving record or any other data except what is needed to establish his or her permission to drive. This is also one reason the card will not run multiple applications.