Towards an Agentic State in Japan

Since the publication of the Vision Paper on the Agentic State, governments and public sector leaders across the world have shown interest in exploring what the framework could mean in their respective contexts.

Today we are publishing the first translation of the Vision Paper, making the vision accessible to Japanese-speaking readers. This publication is part of a broader effort to make the ideas and framework of the Vision Paper travel across languages and institutional contexts.

Translating the paper into Japanese also highlighted the importance of terminological precision — including the distinction between “agentic” and “autonomous”, and concepts such as agent governance, public value, and human-AI collaboration.

Alongside the Japanese edition, we are therefore publishing a Japanese–English companion glossary that aligns core English concepts with Japanese terminology and short explanations. The aim is to support more precise discussion across policy, technology, and public administration communities. The glossary is a companion resource created for the Japanese edition and was not part of the original Vision Paper.

The Japanese translation and companion glossary were curated by Takashi Asanuma, Consultant to the Minister for Digital Transformation and former Vice-Minister for Digital Transformation at the Digital Agency, Government of Japan.

The publication comes amid growing discussion in Japan about digital government and agentic AI. Takashi Asanuma had previously published an in-depth analysis of the vision paper and Ukraine’s roadmap through the lens of Japanese public administration. A related long-form article is also available on X: “エージェント型行政（Agentic State）の現在地”.

His analysis explores how elements of the twelve-layer framework relate to Japan’s existing digital foundations, including the My Number system, base registries, Government Cloud, and Government AI. It discusses why the shift is not simply about adding AI to government, but about redesigning public administration around systems that can perceive situations, reason, and act within defined boundaries, while humans retain oversight, judgment, and accountability.

The Agentic State is a global framework, but its practical value depends on being interpreted and debated within the institutional and policy context of each country. Japan brings its own administrative traditions, digital foundations, and reform questions to the agenda. A shared vocabulary is one practical starting point for making that debate more concrete.

From Tallinn to Tokyo, the question is the same: how should government work when AI agents can act?

Note: The Japanese edition is published by The Agentic State. Its publication does not constitute an official policy position or endorsement by the Government of Japan.