Floppy Disk
Taro Kono, a Japanese politician, has called on the government to stop using floppy disks after taking on the role of minister of digital affairs. In fact it is strange as a first measure, but obviously the use of old data supports, overtaken for years and years by much more capacious and performing systems, must be a very felt problem.Floppy disks still exist During a press conference, Kono unveiled the results of a study conducted by the Japanese Digital Agency that revealed that there are about 1,900 ordinances that require presentations or data storage on physical media such as floppy disks. In fact some also require the use of CD-Roms, mini discs and even cassettes.
Kono ironically commented that he doesn't even know where people can still buy floppy disks. In fact, it is not easy to find them, apart from some online stores. The same can be said for cassettes, definitely out of fashion.
For this reason, according to him, all the ordinances must be revised, so as to be able to apply more modern systems such as those based on the cloud and, more generally, on the 'online. The time that has been given for the company is about one year. When the new ordinances are ready, they will be sent to government agencies.
It must be said that, despite these ordinances, the Japanese offices certainly do not ask the use of these aids to ordinary people for everyday practices. Let's say they are relegated to business presentations and government offices. But the fact that they are still in use is really curious. Of course, not like Tifa's appearance in the Italian Senate.
Have you noticed any mistakes?
Japan declares ‘war’ on the floppy disk, yes, the floppy disk
Tokyo: Japan’s digital minister, who has vowed to rid the bureaucracy of outdated tools from the hanko stamp to the fax machine, has now declared war on a technology many haven’t seen for decades – the floppy disk.
The hand-sized, square-shaped data storage item, along with similar devices including the CD or even lesser-known mini disk, are still required for some 1900 government procedures and must go, Digital Minister Taro Kono wrote in a Twitter post.
An advertisement for a floppy disk.
“We will be reviewing these practices swiftly,” Kono told reporters, adding that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had offered his full support. “Where does one even buy a floppy disk these days?”
Japan isn’t the only nation that has struggled to phase out the outdated technology. The US Defence Department only announced in 2019 that it had stopped using floppy disks in a control system for its nuclear arsenal. The disks were first developed in the 1960s.
Sony stopped making the disks in 2011 and many young people would struggle to describe how to use one or even identify one in the modern workplace.
Legal hurdles are making it difficult to adopt modern technology like cloud storage for wider use within the bureaucracy, according to a presentation by the government’s digital taskforce.
The group will review the provisions and plans before announcing ways to improve them by the year-end.
Kono, one of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s most visible politicians who is often cited by voters as a contender for prime minister, has been an outspoken critic of bureaucratic inefficiencies due to archaic practices, most notably the fax machine and the hanko. The latter is a unique, carved red stamp that remains necessary for signing off on official documents such as marriage licences.