Analog Still Big In Japan (bbc.com)

An anonymous reader writes: BBC News reports that Japan, the island nation famous for robotics, 4G phones, bullet trains and corporate tech giants, is actually run by fax machines, human traffic lights, and 4.2 million small to medium-sized companies. Wary of connecting to networks for fear of data theft and hacking, Japanese office workers average just half the productivity of their American counterparts. Whether this conservativism in IT can prevent automation and robots from replacing people remains to be seen. However, the use of cassette tape recorders, hand-written data disk mailers, and 1997-era e-mail systems with near zero storage definitely hurts competitiveness in the global market.

Comments

The land of ATMs on holiday

[Neo-Rio-101]

Japan is also a country where the ATMs close after hours, and where cash is still used exclusively for most things.

It's also a country where your girlfriend will get upset if you don't take her to KFC on Christmas eve, followed by a love hotel,... but I digress.

Um... Japan's industry is doing horrible

[rsilvergun]

now, the Chinese factories that make all their stuff are doing pretty good, and a few guys at the top do well. But the rest of Japan has been in recession (depression? we're not allowed to talk about that) for 20 or 30 years since their bubble burst in the 90s. I knew it was bad when they started outsourcing animation to South Korea to save money...

Re:illogical summary

[youngone]

The purpose of a business to generate profits for the owners

Not in Japan, not as an absolute.

The Lump of Labour fallacy is an unproven economics opinion. Not to be confused with a fact.

A big problem in Japan, is that to open a new shop...

This is not considered a problem in Japan.

Re:My Trip to Japan

[Harlequin80]

Japan has changed dramatically over the last 10 years (the gap between my first and most recent trips there) and they are hugely more accommodating of foreigners then they used to be. Back 10 years ago there were signs in Kyoto saying "No Gaijin" on restaurants. Now the buses around Kyoto have english commentary as you come up to each stop.

The same changes have occured to their banking system. 10 years ago 7-11s were the only place in Kyoto that would accept non Japanese bank cards. Now everywhere does.

Also if you live there you tend to sign up for things like pasmo and have an app on your phone. Pasmo is like an oyster travel card but it works in loads of places from vending machines to restaurants. That is kind like the future, tap your phone on the reader and away you go.

Re:small and medium business

[rsborg]

Not just Japan. Look up mittelstand.

Large conglomerates are mainly a US creation. A concept created by Wall Street to keep CEOs shuffling operating companies around while the financial consultants skim off exorbitant fees for financing that activity.

What do you think the British East India Corporation was? Where do you think Hollywood got the idea of Weyland-Yutani corporation from? The idea of a large conglomerated colonial corporation (completely outsourced ruthless governance) isn't an American creation, it's existed for centuries.

The other day I read "The Count of Monte Cristo" - very readable even in today's standards (except the part where he goes to Rome - got lost there). It even detailed how the wealthy even relied on financial derivatives as well as orchestrating a stock trading pump & dump. That book was written in 1844.