Japan has officially announced the elimination of floppy disks in its government systems, marking the end of an era of outdated technology. This achievement comes two years after the country’s digital minister, Taro Kono, publicly declared a “war on floppy disks.” As of June 28, all government systems have ceased to use floppy disks.
A Milestone in Technological Modernization
According to a report by Reuters, the Japanese government has phased out the use of floppy disks in all its systems. By mid-June, Japan’s Digital Agency, established during the COVID-19 pandemic to modernize government technology, had eliminated 1,034 regulations related to the use of floppy disks, with the exception of an environmental rule related to vehicle recycling. This suggests that there may be residual use of floppy disks in the government, although further details were not provided.
The digital minister, Taro Kono, the politician behind this technological modernization, has openly expressed his disdain for floppy disks and other outdated office technologies, such as fax machines. Kono, who is considering a second presidential candidacy.
The Long Life of Floppy Disks
Although Kono only announced plans to eradicate floppy disks from the government two years ago, it has been 20 years since they were at their peak and 53 years since their debut. In January 2024, the Japanese government ceased to require physical media, such as floppy disks and CD-ROMs, for 1,900 types of government submissions, such as business records and citizen forms.
The timeline surprise is understandable, considering that the last company to manufacture floppy disks, Sony, stopped doing so in 2011. Floppy disks, which mostly have a maximum capacity of 1.44MB (although there were also 2.88MB ones), cannot compete with current storage options and it is difficult to find a modern system that can read them. Additionally, there are basic concerns about this old storage format, such as the 2021 incident where the Tokyo police lost a pair of floppy disks with information on public housing applicants.
Persistence of Old Technology
Japan is not the only government with recent ties to this obsolete technology. For example, San Francisco’s Muni Metro train control system uses software that runs on floppy disks and plans to do so until 2030. The U.S. Air Force used 8-inch floppy disks until 2019.
Outside the public sector, floppy disks remain common in various industries, including embroidery, cargo airlines, and CNC machines. It was reported that Chuck E. Cheese used floppy disks for their animatronics until January 2023.
Resistance to Modernization
Now that the Japanese government has declared its independence from floppy disks, it remains to be seen what other steps towards modernization it will take. Despite its numerous technological achievements, Japan has a reputation for clinging to outdated technologies. The IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2023 ranked Japan 32 out of 64 economies, measuring the capacity and willingness to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver of economic transformation.
The Japanese government has shown resistance to adopting more modern technologies, such as cloud for administrative systems. Kono urged government offices to stop requiring personal seals hanko in 2020, but the move has been slow. Many offices in Japan still prefer fax machines over emails, and plans to eliminate them from government offices in 2021 were scrapped due to resistance.
Japan has taken a significant step towards technological modernization with the elimination of floppy disks in government. However, the country faces ongoing challenges to abandon other outdated technologies. The transition to a more advanced digital future will require sustained efforts and a willingness to change both in the public and private sectors.