Japanese Government Will Stop Using Floppy Disks

The Digital Minister of Japan is fighting to stop the use of floppy disks and other old technology still used by the government.

Taro Kono, the Digital Minister of Japan, says that about 1,900 government procedures require businesses to use old technology like floppy disks, CD and mini-discs.

However, he says that government regulations will be updated so that people can use online services.

Japan is famous for creative, high-tech gadgets, but it’s also notorious for holding on to outdated technology in its offices.

Floppy disks were first created in the late 1960s. The original floppy disks were “soft” and bendable, which is where the name comes from. In the 90s, floppy disks started to disappear because of improved storage devices.

For example, the storage space on one 32GB memory stick is equal to more than 20,000 floppy disks.

This past Tuesday, Kono also said that he wanted to “get rid of the fax machine.” He also asked, “where does a person even buy a floppy disk these days?”

It’s not clear why there is still so much old technology being used in Japan, but some possible reasons are conservative work environments and poor digital literacy.

In 2018, the Cyber-Security Minister of Japan shocked everyone when he said that he had never used a computer in his life.

Similar to this story, the US government used floppy disks in connection with the country’s nuclear weapons until the 2010s.