Digital Minister Taro Kono confirmed that the Japanese government officially stopped using floppy disks. Sharing with the media on July 3, Mr. Kono declared: “We won the floppy disk war on June 28.”

In 2022, Minister Kono pledged to eliminate the law requiring floppy disks and CD-ROMs to send data to the government. However, his effort took another 1,5 years to succeed. As of a few weeks ago, the country's Digital Agency had ended 1.034 regulations governing the use of floppy disks and left only one, related to recycling.

The move marks an important milestone in Japan's efforts to modernize aging operations when fax machines are still common in many agencies. A survey by YouGov organization (USA) in 2018 showed that two-thirds of British children aged 2 to 3 do not even know what a floppy disk is. In the video recording the children's reactions, they also speculated that floppy disks were something from outside the earth.

Before becoming Digital Minister, Mr. Kono headed the Ministry of Defense and Foreign Affairs as well as in charge of Covid-19 vaccine deployment. He took his current position in August 8 and currently has more than 2022 million followers on X.

The Digital Agency was established during the pandemic in 2021 as the nationwide testing and vaccination rollout exposed weaknesses, with the government still relying on paperwork and outdated technology .

Responding to Mainichi newspaper, Mr. Kono shared that the digitalization process has made significant progress. They need to make the necessary assessments, including the use of fax machines.

Although Japan is a high-tech powerhouse, ministries, departments and branches lag far behind, most clearly reflected in their dependence on 80s-style technology. Fax machines seem to be about to suffer the same fate. parts with floppy disks and personal seals (also known as “hanko”) used to replace signatures in both the public and private sectors.

In December 12, Ministry of Education officials agreed to ban fax machines in schools and digitize communications from 2023.

(According to Telegraph, The Register)