Japan finally hopes to ditch floppy discs 24 years after Apple did

AppleInsider

Almost a quarter of a century after the original iMac made floppy disks obsolete, Japan's government has announced its going to try to stop using them.

Apple was saved by the iMac, but when it was launched it did face severe criticism for having abandoned the then-ubiquitous floppy disk drive. Exactly as would happen when the iPhone ditched its headphone jack, the industry cricitized and mocked -- and then quickly followed suit.

According to BBC News, however, there has been at least one holdout. Even now, it is claimed that around 1,900 government procedures in Japan require businesses to use floppy disks.

This is not completely true, as in at least some cases those firms are allowed to use CDs and mini-discs. But these are also technologies that the industry has mostly abandoned, with Apple again leading the change by beginning to drop optical drives in 2008.

That was with the first MacBook Air, 14 years ago, and Apple kept on eradicating the optical drive, such as with 2011's Mac mini.

BBC News reports that Japan's digital minister Taro Kono has "declared war" on floppy disks -- and other old technology.

"Where does one even buy a floppy disk these days?" he said. "I'm [also] looking to get rid of the fax machine, and I still plan to do that."

If he wanted, Amazon still has old stock, for as low as $18 for 10 disks. For that $18, you get 14.4 megabytes of space -- or you can buy a flash drive with 128 GB.

For a country that at least manufactures the latest technology if it doesn't also invent it, Japan has a remarkable history of sticking with old methods. It was only in 2019 that the last pager service ended, for instance.

And in 2018, Japan's then-new cybersecurity minister Yoshitaka Sakurada revealed that "I have never used a computer in my life." He said that he had always delegated such things to his staff.

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hexclock

I thought Japan was supposed to be technologically advanced. 

MplsP

“For a country that at least manufactures the latest technology if it doesn't also invent it, Japan has a remarkable history of sticking with old methods. It was only in 2019 that the last pager service ended, for instance.”

I work in healthcare and most physicians still carry a pager. For their purposes they are in many ways superior to other methods. Our hospital also has devices called Voceras - they’re small devices you can clip to your scrubs that have a speaker and a microphone and can be used to communicate with other staff. The physicians I know all hate them and prefer their pagers. Sometimes newer is not better. 

NYC362

MplsP said:

I work in healthcare and most physicians still carry a pager. For their purposes they are in many ways superior to other methods. Our hospital also has devices called Voceras - they’re small devices you can clip to your scrubs that have a speaker and a microphone and can be used to communicate with other staff. The physicians I know all hate them and prefer their pagers. Sometimes newer is not better. 

Now, if they just make it look like this: 

raymondai

Should be a typo, 3.5” floppy has 1.44Megabytes only.  
FYI, modern CPU L2 cache may around 10MB.

hmlongco

Average age in Japan trends higher. Average age of a company president in Japan is 60. As such, they're more likely to keep and use, and even mandate "old" technology like fax machines, dumb phones... and floppies.

t-bone

Consumer electronics in Japan are modern but back office infrastructure is stuck in the 90s. Paper-based processes and faxes remain dominant unfortunately. 

radarthekat

Japan's then-new cybersecurity minister Yoshitaka Sakurada revealed that "I have never used a computer in my life."

Leading by example.  There is literally no better way to be cybersecure.  

bobcubsfan

We were in Tokyo in 2016. Cash was king. Hard to use credit cards.

JinTech

NYC362 said:

MplsP said:

I work in healthcare and most physicians still carry a pager. For their purposes they are in many ways superior to other methods. Our hospital also has devices called Voceras - they’re small devices you can clip to your scrubs that have a speaker and a microphone and can be used to communicate with other staff. The physicians I know all hate them and prefer their pagers. Sometimes newer is not better. 

Now, if they just make it look like this: 

Or this? 

radek

raymondai said:

Should be a typo, 3.5” floppy has 1.44Megabytes only.  

nope.
After first read I also thought thats typo, but when I read it again I realised that they speak about whole pack for $18, 14.4MB is correct.

mpantone

t-bone said:

Consumer electronics in Japan are modern but back office infrastructure is stuck in the 90s. Paper-based processes and faxes remain dominant unfortunately. 

This is correct.

Japan is still very bureaucratic, particularly in government matters. The previous prime minister Suga tried to reduce seals, basically manually applied approval stamps.

mpantone

bobcubsfan said:

We were in Tokyo in 2016. Cash was king. Hard to use credit cards.

This was the case 15-20 years ago. Even in 2016, not as much, certainly not in 2019 right before the pandemic. The Japanese are germophobes so undoubtedly the pandemic has expanded contactless payments.

The Japanese started using cellphones as transit passes back in 2005 and called them osaifu keitai (literally "wallet phone"). Initially they were transit passes (Suica for JR, Pasmo for Tokyo Metropolitan Subway) but the technology quickly spread to commonly frequented places like convenience stores (7-Eleven, Lawsons, FamilyMart, etc.), movie theaters, fast food restaurants, etc. partly because of the citizens' germophobic disposition. A lot of places now accept Pasmo and Suica transit cards as payment and the signs are prominently displayed at the cash register and often the front door of the establishment (sort of like the VISA/MC/Discover/AMEX stickers here in 'Merikuh).

Many of these POS terminals will accept smartphones for such payments. I downloaded the Suica (Eng) app and charged it up with a credit card when I was there in 2018 and 2019. Prior to that I used a physical Suica card with the NFC chip and topped up with a credit card at subway station ticket kiosk machines.

Using the Suica iOS app is great since you can see the individual transactions just like a credit card (e.g., ¥718 at Doutor Coffee). The physical card doesn't have that transparency unless you register it with the normal Suica app (which is targeted to residents of Japan).

The Japanese love paper though and cash gifts are typically new money (brand new currency, preferably without creases) not plastic/soy gift cards that Americans love.

Depending on which way you're looking and what you're doing, Japan can be either very modern (tasty hot lunches from vending machines) or super old school (wait in 45 minute line for handmade soba noodles).

For sure the USA isn't on the cutting edge of consumer payment technology. Right before the pandemic, when you got your guest check at a restaurant in many Western European countries, you could indicate that you want to pay with a credit card. The server would pull out a wireless POS terminal from a belt holster which they would use to swipe or chip scan your credit card; some POS terminals had NFC contactless payment hardware, so you could just wave your smartphone over it.

That type of modern consumer payment system has yet to find ubiquity here in the USA. 

And American credit cards are still chip-and-sign rather than the more secure chip-and-pin approval method.

Appleish

Oh, wonderful. Apple dumping the floppy disc is the reason I moved to Japan. Where can I move now?

mpantone

Appleish said:

Oh, wonderful. Apple dumping the floppy disc is the reason I moved to Japan. Where can I move now?

Wherever you can plug in a USB floppy disk drive into your computer. Buy two if you want to share those floppies with someone else. I dunno, Bic Camera I suppose.

Make sure you pack them well before moving. You wouldn't want them to get damaged.

Best of luck.