Blockchain Is Helping Japan Fight Against Forged Japanese Proficiency Documents

One of the greatest advantages of blockchain technology is the transparency of information across the chain and it’s increased security as it forms a decentralized digital ledger which is hard to fabricate or alter.

Now, as per a report by The Asahi Shimbun, blockchain technology is being employed by two Japanese tech based multinationals, Fujitsu and Sony that developed the encrypted database to do away with the fraudulent practices by foreigners in the Japanese language proficiency tests.

According to the report, this educational document is required to prove proficiency in the Japanese language in order for foreigners to study in the country and apply for resident status which must be handed over to the Immigration Bureau.

Although local Japanese language schools are responsible for providing the legal documents for international institutes,many illegal and fake copies have been submitted as international institutes are also allowed to issue certification. As per the report, in 2018, a local broker in Vietnam was responsible for many forged documents.

Further in the report, it is mentioned that students with forged documents may gain student or resident status but ultimately they suffer as it is a struggle to survive there without proper language proficiency.

Sony’s subsidiary, Sony Global Education Inc used their blockchain expertise and paired it with Fujistu’s online learning platform to come up with a secure and transparent solution to this epidemic in order to increase the quality of Japan’s testing procedures.

The trials for this technology is set to be tested in March at the Human Academy Co. in Tokyo, Osaka and Saga, with hopes of a complete launch in April.

Through the platform, when international students wish to take tests on language proficiency, all their records and results will be visible on the blockchain’s database after which Japanese schools can access these records and corroborate them with the issues documents for authenticity.

Since, the data is managed in many different computers, it will be increasingly difficult to get through the blockchain’s checks. During the trial period, the two companies aim to work out any issues or problems in the system before its use in the real world after which they hope to get more local Japanese schools on board.