Japanese people tend to make a big deal out of the "human touch," especially when it comes to service, so I can see how companies aren't jumping on to the hype. We're also pretty slow to adopt change.

Oh and maybe the shit exchange rate makes it expensive to use the service as everything is pretty much foreign tech.

Not that surprising considering Japanese government only retired floppy disks in 2024 and fax machines are still in widespread use there.

They could have AI on a floppy that faxes generated images.

Japanese people tend to make a big deal out of the “human touch,” especially when it comes to service, so I can see how companies aren’t jumping on to the hype. We’re also pretty slow to adopt change.

And that's pretty cool, seems like a culture best suited for modern challenges.

I've heard\read there are many racist, paternalist, hierarchical and collectivist traits, but at the same time Japan apparently hasn't hit those honeypots most of the humanity has.

And that's very good. You need a newer and better technology for the same job, if it does the same job better. Not for a different job with new "wow effect component" baked in.

We use pencils, pens and writing paper still.

It wasn't an option to have a "new and better" writing paper synchronizing all our records with some vault authoritative people have before. Now it is. Japan apparently has passed the test of people_not_ trying to move everything to that honeypot.

All hail Japan, can they please conquer us? Technically I live in a nearby country, except, eh, Moscow is kinda far from the far east ...

Weeeell... floppies have more downsides that upsides and could've been replaced ages ago (along with implementing backup policies).
They could've at least migrated to data MiniDiscs.

Faxes from what I've heard were mostly because back in the day it was easier to write Japanese on a paper and fax it... in the age of Unicode, fax-to-mail and alike... dunno, maybe.

I generally agree though, no point in adopting new stuff just because.

And that's pretty cool, seems like a culture best suited for modern challenges.

I mean, looking at the Lost Decades it seems to be quite the opposite. Sometimes it helps to take things slow, but other times you really have to think "come on get on with the times already".

Japan has been living in the year 2000 since the 80s.

Look at right now and consider that Japan still has something appearing to be a democracy. USA and the EU are in the "trade and denial" phase, countries like Russia and Turkey - the obvious, LOL.

That's because Japan isn't yet so compromised under the guise of progress.

Fax is an analog system that can be built without very complex production lines in place, that's a good enough reason.

The only reason Japan isn't in the same boat as America and Europe (yet, far-right parties are slowly rising in popularity) is that they never got on the immigration train, so their population is mostly homogenous and there are few things for bigots to complain about. Of course, this came with a price; the dismal state of Japan's industry, academia and economy compared to other first-world countries is at least partially due to their rejection of immigrants. Of course, they can't keep this up forever, which is why they've been recently allowing more immigrants in, fueling the rise of the far-right. Unless they can change rapidly, what Japan is "enjoying" now is the calm before the storm. "Still has something appearing to be a democracy" is how the EU was described five years ago.

Have you heard if this thing called a mobile phone?

Weird how you say collectivist like it's a bad thing

The only reason Japan isn’t in the same boat as America and Europe (yet, far-right parties are slowly rising in popularity) is that they never got on the immigration train, so their population is mostly homogenous and there are few things for bigots to complain about.

I think you've incorrectly guessed what I call honeypots.

It has nothing to do with bigotry and everything to do with unaccountable authority.

“Still has something appearing to be a democracy” is how the EU was described five years ago.

Perhaps. But I'm charmed by how they describe Japan as a nation where omnipresent surveillance is still not considered normal. This wasn't the case with the EU 5 or 10 years ago.

It is. It replaces one's own choices with a collective's common "choice", and that is usually substituted with most loud and ambitious people's choice from inside the collective, or the voices that those from outside prefer to hear from it. Bad all around.

Mutual aid and brotherhood are not collectivism. The philosophy that a group of individuals can be regarded as a subject is, possibly without regard for the comprising individuals.

Yes, that thing can't

be built without very complex production lines in place, that’s a good enough reason

. I want to live in a free and humanist world, which means that such technologies are more valuable.

I mean, one look at Japanese work culture should be all demonstration you need for that.

It has nothing to do with bigotry and everything to do with unaccountable authority.

I mean, they're two sides of the same coin. Authority capitalizes on bigotry (and division, more broadly) to avoid accountability.

But I'm charmed by how they describe Japan as a nation where omnipresent surveillance is still not considered normal. This wasn't the case with the EU 5 or 10 years ago.

Fair enough.

mean, they’re too sides of the same coin. Authority capitalizes on bigotry (and division, more broadly) to avoid accountability.

Not really, it seems sane, but not always true. Bigotry should be replaced with xenophobia. A phobia of any other group or opinion or anything you haven't accepted before.

That is - when you call someone a bigot (suppose they are certainly a bigot, a confident Nazi) with the meaning that you don't have to conduct yourself honorably with them, as if they were guilty just by association, you are likely doing same amount or more of xenophobia than that bigot.

So - EU and USA have plenty of xenophobia which doesn't fit into their narrow ideas of bigotry. Much more than Japan or any East Asian country, in my subjective feeling.

And, if you have met some real-life nationalists, they might be pretty tolerant people in the sense of xenophobia. Having some idea of society they want to build, but no hate, hostility and dehumanization against you (suppose you are of a different ethnicity). They usually have a project of what the nation looks like, not a cleansing rage.

Those are a really distasteful association, but some of the "separate but equal" types I've met were like this too.

In general, the western idea of bigotry has lost its meaning completely. It started with Voltaire, Christian love, openness of mind and preference for resolving conflicts peacefully and with dignity.

Now there are lots of arrogant apes thinking they are enlightened people, sorting everyone around into groups by markers and deeming some unworthy of understanding, attention or honorable conduct. There's literally nothing in them of the philosophical traditions of liberalism and humanism they pretend to follow.

That's not what an enlightened human is. And since most people wouldn't even understand what I said here, I'd say the civilization we took for the final step before some heaven in the 00s is over.

And yes, this means that acceptance of bigotry is clearly good, if it means acceptance of all other similarly divergent ways of thought.