Japan Bids Farewell to Floppies: A Digital Detox for Bureaucracy
January 30, 2024 By Raulf Hernes
(Image Credit Google)
Is the sound of a floppy disk drive still fresh in your mind? Even in formal business, until recently, such sound was surprisingly widespread in Japan. Yes, presenting documentation on those antiquated artifacts was mandatory in a country at the forefront of technology. Changes are afoot, and in some Japanese institutions, floppy disks will finally be phased out by 2024.
Consider it a slow-motion technological revolution. Despite being a leader in technology, Japan's administrative procedures haven't always kept up. Just picture how annoying it would be to submit important documents in a format that Sony stopped producing more than ten years ago and is now all but obsolete! They were difficult to locate in the first place, and their meagre 1.4MB of storage was insufficient to accommodate even one high-resolution picture.
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Fortunately, Minister Taro Kono, the advocate of digital affairs, led the charge to modernize. Leading the push is the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which eliminated floppy disks from 34 processes this year and will shortly introduce CD-ROMs. But the trip is far from ending. These remnants of the past still adhere to almost 1,900 government protocols, even in unexpected locations like utility companies, aircraft systems, and even medical gadgets!
Why then is the holdout? Certain sectors, such as the medical and aviation industries, depend on antiquated technology that requires these formats. Until the startling year 2019 even, the US government relied on floppy disks to unleash nuclear weapons!
Thus, 2024 is a watershed year for floppy disks in Japan, even though the last chapter may not be written quite yet. It is the tale of the long dance between tradition and modernity, the evolution of bureaucracy, and, in the end, the triumph of the efficiency and convenience of the digital era. Who knows, maybe in the future we'll remember floppy disks with the same humour we save for dial-up internet.
