A Luddite’s End

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Japan will implement measures to get rid of floppy disks and other old-fashioned technology after the country’s digital affairs minister “declared war” on obsolete devices to push the government into the digital age, Sky News reported.

Minister Taro Kono said that existing regulations will be updated to allow people to use online services. He added that the new measures aim to remove outdated tech such as CDs, MiniDiscs and even fax machines.

The move came after a government committee found that about 1,900 law, government and ministerial clauses specify that certain storage devices, including floppy discs, are utilized to create administrative applications and store data.

The government aims to reduce bureaucracy by abolishing these requirements.

Despite making strides in technological development, Japan has made headlines in the past for its analog habits, according to the BBC.

Various theories have been advanced, including insufficient Internet literacy and a traditional bureaucratic culture.

In 2018, Yoshitaka Sakurada, the minister in charge of Japan’s cybersecurity, admitted that he had never used a computer and would delegate IT tasks to his staff.

A year later, the country’s final pager provider closed its services.