We all remember floppy disks, right? Anyone who used a computer up until about the early 2000s will recognise the friendly square storage devices that were so ubiquitous that we still use a picture of one for the “save” button in a lot of programs.
You might think that nobody uses them anymore, now that thumb drives are everywhere and computers have so much storage space on their own… but you’d be surprised where they’re still a necessary part of dealing with everyday life.
Japan – famed for its cutting-edge innovations – has a surprisingly outdated culture when it comes to tech, especially in business and government. Fax machines are still widespread, and the floppy disk has hung around long past its use-by date, with floppies still required for almost 2,000 different government procedures.
Digital Affairs Minister Taro Kono has finally decided enough is enough, and declared war on the humble floppy in a tweet.
“There are about 1,900 government procedures that requires business community to use discs, i.e. floppy disc, CD, MD, etc to submit applications and other forms. Digital Agency is to change those regulations so you can use online,” he said.
He’s facing stiff opposition, though, thanks to a conservative bureaucracy and surprisingly low levels of computer savviness – the minister in charge of cyber-security in 2018 admitted he’d never used a computer in his life, and the country only stopped using pagers in 2019. Best of luck there, Kono-san.
