Telegram Not Dead STOP Alive, Evolving In Japan STOP

itwbennett writes Japan is one of the last countries in the world where telegrams are still widely used. A combination of traditional manners, market liberalization and innovation has kept alive this age-old form of messaging. Companies affiliated with the country's three mobile carriers, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank, offer telegrams, which are sent via modern server networks instead of the dedicated electrical wires of the past (Morse telegraphy hasn't been used since 1962), and then printed out with modern printers instead of tape glued on paper. But customers are still charged according to the length of the message, which is delivered within three hours. A basic NTT telegram up to 25 characters long can be sent for ¥440 ($4.30) when ordered online.

Comments

Japan is still pretty backwards in some ways

[Tyrannicsupremacy]

Also worth mentioning is the way employees are paid, frequently envelopes of cash, direct deposit is not very popular yet there.

Re:Japan is still pretty backwards in some ways

[Anonymous Coward]

Check his posting record... 633 comments, most of them AOL-tier, including whining about moderation.

Maybe he'll calm down when he graduates from high school.

Free hint for him: make fewer, higher-quality posts. Learn the trick of replying to get it out of your system, and then hitting cancel instead of submit because it wasn't really worth posting. "Does the whole world really care about what I just said?"

Re:Japan is still pretty backwards in some ways

[Anonymous Coward]

If you are a paid employee in Japan, your income tax is withheld directly from your salary. You don't even need to file a tax return unless you have source of income other than your primary employer.

Also, direct deposit is quite common at least among large organizations. Even part time workers get paid by direct deposit. I don't have experience or knowledge of smaller organizations though.

Disclaimer: I am Japanese, but I haven't worked in the country for about 10 years now. My comment is based on my experience, so it surely is outdated. Cursory search on the web also indicates a lot of Japanese now consider cash payments largely outdated as well as security risk. That said cash payments can still be found at smaller companies and in certain industry (such as movers and construction workers).

Re:Japan is still pretty backwards in some ways

[alta]

which is why I always try to address the email AFTER I have written. Keeps me from accidentally sending something incomplete or something I would totally regret sending at all.

Makes sense

[kruach aum]

They also still use faxes for similar reasons impenetrable and unfathomable.

Re:Makes sense

[AmiMoJo]

They also still use faxes for similar reasons impenetrable and unfathomable.

It's not hard to understand. Rather than signing documents with a signature the Japanese use unique stamps, hand made so that no two are quite the same. Everyone has a stamp with their name on. Stamping documents is seen as a way to say "I have checked this" or "I endorse this", and because you can't stamp an email or text message they print, stamp and fax documents.

In the west signatures are becoming less important as people move to use email for formal communication. We still sign letters but emails are considered equivalent for many purposes. In Japan there are now "electronic stamps" that create a "secure" (not really) PDF with an image of the user's stamp burned into it.

As for telegrams, I think it must just be nostalgic value. In the UK if you live to 100 you get a telegram from the Queen, because that's tradition. Certain events are marked with a telegram, the same way as certain events are marked with champaign or a cake or a card.

Re:Makes sense

[JanneM]

Stamping documents is seen as a way to say "I have checked this" or "I endorse this", and because you can't stamp an email or text message they print, stamp and fax documents.

I'm working in Japan, and while I almost never get or send a fax any more (it must be years now), it's decently common to send and receive PDF scans over email. In fact, sometimes you need to print out the scan, add your stamp, re-scan and send it back. I do - want to print a reference copy for myself anyhow - but I suspect some people simply add their stamp graphic to the document directly.

What's your preferred method of communication?

[Dins]

You've probably never heard of it.

Japan is still pretty backwards in some ways

[Anonymous Coward]

Implying that cash isn't a superior method of getting paid.

So sorry to inform you

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Upcoming Slashdot maintenance STOP Aug 15 5 to 6 PM Eastern STOP beta.slashdot.org still useless during that time STOP

Might even be pragmatic sometimes

[Sockatume]

Quite aside from tradition, which is great, there are situations where you need to send a message to a physical address. Maybe the occupant doesn't have a phone or email, or you don't know their contact details, or whether they even have a phone or email. If that message has to get there within three hours rather than overnight, then the $4.30 rate is pretty competitive with getting an express courier to carry a post-it note.

Japan Telegrams are great.

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was married, we received a handful of telegrams from friends and colleagues.

All were delivered as exquisite display pieces, with the message in a frame and everything. Very moving. This is what 'Telegrams' are for, special or official things. I will never forget it either.

Black Adder Reference

[Nahooda]

Black Adder:
To Mr. Charlie Chaplin, Sennet Studios, Hollywood, California. Congrats stop. Have found only person in world less funny than you stop. Name Baldrick stop. Signed E. Blackadder stop. Oh, and put a P.S.: please, please, please stop

Chaplin's answer at end of episode:
Twice nightly filming of my films in trenches: excellent idea stop. But must insist that E. Blackadder be projectionist stop. P.S. Don't let him ever... stop

My Grandfather told me

[Truth_Quark]

That when he heard his brother and wife had had their fifth child he sent a telegram that went: Congratulations Stop

why STOP in telegrams?

[JigJag]

Hey Slashdot, does anyone knows why telegrams are peppered with the word 'STOP'? Was there no punctuation mark to use a period?

Re:why STOP in telegrams?

[gman003]

Morse code did not originally have punctuation. A period is also referred to as a "stop" or "full stop", so they would just use S-T-O-P in the place of a period.

Re:why STOP in telegrams?

[rossdee]

The word STOP was free, but other small words still cost, therefore they were often left out.

At the end of the 20th century, the Universal House of Justice wrote emails that sounded like telegrams.

Re:25 characters is too much for Haikus!

[timrod]

Seventeen isn't enough STOP
For a haiku in English STOP
Not even counting stops STOP

There is a place for the Morse telegraph

[davidwr]

The non-wireless Morse telegraph using only 19th-century technology (plus modern conveniences like plastic-insulated wires) is a fun educational tool for places like museums that reflect the era when telegraphy was widely used.

It's also a fun educational tool for children's camps which specialize in either the history of that era or which specialize in STEM and which have a historical component.

The same can be said for semaphore signaling, "hand-crank" telephones, and even "tin can and a string" telephones.

Wireless telegraphy is still used by amateur radio operators and other hobbyists, alongside more modern "digital modes" like packet radio. Because of its very low bandwidth, Morse Code, particularly the computer-controlled "slow code" that is used on very-narrow-bandwidth transmissions in the sub-600KHz bands can typically get a message through in high-noise or low-effective-transmitting-power situations where other methods, such as "phone" (i.e. voice communication) or other digital modes can't.