The end of floppy disks panics the third world power

© Hubert Berberich (HubiB), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

« We have won the war against floppy disks ! » The Japanese Minister of Digital, Taro Kono, rejoiced at a victory that was, to say the least, unexpected in 2024. But this storage system, which clearly seems obsolete, was still widely used in the country until then.

When the end of Internet Explorer made people fear the worst

Within administrations, the latter notably revealed its shortcomings while it had to manage the testing and vaccination system for more than 125 million inhabitants. In total, the government has therefore issued no less than 1,034 laws and regulations to put an end to this annoying habit.

This relative triumph in any case highlights Japan's shortcomings from a technological point of view. The minister also wants to tackle faxing which is still widely used on site.

We also remember this significant episode in 2022 when Microsoft announced the end of support for Internet Explorer. And for good reason, according to a survey by the company Keyman's Net carried out that year, many organizations were still using it, and 49% of participants still used the Microsoft browser to surf the web.

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Even more dangerous: many internal company services were only accessible via Internet Explorer and in particular the management of employee attendance, the payment of expense reports , as well as certain tools.

These numerous episodes lead us to take a different look at the land of the rising sun. The third largest economy in the world can of course pride itself on the presence of large companies: Sony, Hitachi, Rakuten, Sega, Canon and Nintendo to name just a few. But it also shows its limits.

The weaknesses of the Japanese economy

According to a study by the Institute Management Development (IMD) on digital competitiveness, the Japan ranks 32nd out of a total of 64 countries measured on their capacity and readiness to adopt and test digital technologies « as a key driver of transformation economics in business, government and society in general».

Among the major weaknesses of the Japanese economy, we find a shortage of personnel and particularly digital skills. According to the Ministry of the Economy, there will be a shortage of 450,000 information technology professionals on site in 2030. The country must face the aging of its population and dark years are looming. You can also find an old article that we published on the subject here.

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