According to the Nikkei, the Japanese government has only now initiated a process to phase out floppy disks, even though they were discontinued about a decade ago. Local authorities in Tokyo to the last held on to this type of media, because they considered it super reliable. According to officials, floppy disks almost never broke, and data was not lost. Even though Sony discontinued them in 2011, they are still in use today as they offer reusable recording.
To force local authorities to abandon floppy disks, the Japanese government imposed a fee for the use of physical media in the amount of 50,000 Japanese yen (about $ 440) per month. This is a forced initiative to go digital. Some government departments in the Japanese capital have already begun migrating data from floppy disks online, but the transition may take years to complete. According to the Nikkei, the digitalization plan indicated 2026 as the final stage.
It sounds ironic, but despite the country’s ultra-modern image, the Japanese government is struggling to go digital, and government officials are struggling to thwart it. For example, not so long ago they objected to the intention to abandon faxes, and before that they were outraged that the authorities were trying to abandon wet stamps to confirm the authenticity of documents.
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