Japan recently made a significant leap into the digital age by eliminating regulations that mandated the use of floppy disks for administrative purposes. This decision comes 13 years after the last floppy disks were produced in the country, marking a long-overdue transition from outdated technology.
The floppy disk, a staple of computing since its invention in the 1970s, has now been largely replaced by more modern storage solutions such as flash drives and cloud storage. While the rest of the world bid farewell to floppy disks and other obsolete technologies like cassette tapes, Japan held onto these relics of the past, alongside fax machines and cash.
It wasn’t until two years ago that Japan started to phase out these antiquated storage devices, with Digital Minister Taro Kono leading the charge against floppy disks. Kono’s push for modernization was prompted by an encounter with an American cancer clinic billboard mocking the use of floppy disks, highlighting Japan’s lag in technological advancement.
Even in remote areas like the southern town of Tsuwano, the transition away from floppy disks was a recent development. In April 2023, the town’s accounting department finally retired its stack of floppy disks, symbolizing a broader shift towards embracing contemporary technology.
