this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
321 points (93.3% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27253 readers
1397 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] odium@programming.dev 183 points 11 months ago (6 children)

On the flipside, something most developed countries consider normal but would blow Japanese minds is the ability to do all "paperwork" on your phone or laptop without any paper ever being printed anywhere. Japan is somehow still a country of fax.

[–] Squiddles@kbin.social 142 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I heard Japan described as being "stuck in the year 2000 since the 1980's". I think South Korea fits the original question better than Japan nowadays.

[–] Chozo@kbin.social 40 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, Japan had a massive tech boom in the 80s and 90s, but then just kinda stopped growing that field. It's still there and still a strong industry in Japan, but the cultural tech hype isn't there anymore, it seems.

[–] doctorcrimson@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Part of the reason for the original enthusiasm is that they were enamored by the country's recovery post-WWII when they managed to barely obtain permissions from transistor patent holders to manufacture in Japan which led to creation of many of the first consumer transistor radio brands among other electronics manufacturing.

They were the cheap electronics labour market before China, as China wouldn't see notable economic improvement until after the 80s.

[–] Potatisen@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I think Shanghai/China fits it even better. The convenience and technological advances are moving crazy fast.

[–] doctorcrimson@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Meh. They're head to head for most fields, only thing I can think of that they've made noteworthy advances in would be superheated coal burning efficiency to squeeze out more power and at the same time capture more emissions than any comparative western facility. China as a whole has some of the lowest per capita emissions of any nation, though their numbers might not be as accurate for several reasons.

Even their rocketry is kind of pathetic, I think India might even have the edge over them on that front.

[–] Potatisen@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

That might be true, I have no idea but for day to day stuff, is amazing.

[–] WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world 43 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I was there in the last few years and couldn’t believe how much of the country was still cash only!

[–] 9715698@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Germany is very much the same way, in terms of paperwork and cash only.

Germany is the same as Japan in more ways than i could have thought.

[–] imkali@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm there right now from Australia, which is often considered one of the most cashless societies and yeah, it's really a shock.

To be honest I kind of like it, and the way they manage it.

[–] Ucalegon@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Here in the Netherlands you can pay practically everywhere electronically (even the door to door collectors for charities carry a qrcode in addition to their collection box) , but if you go next door to Germany you'd better bring cash if you want to buy anything.

[–] fidodo@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

And when it isn't cash only it's a completely random grab bag between credit cards, transit cards, QR codes, app payment and e money. Just hope you have the supported option of like 20 options.

[–] thrawn@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

They’ve made a stunning amount of progress in accepting credit cards in the past couple years though. I’m there pretty regularly and the shift has been wild. By spring 2023 I didn’t really need cash anymore. By fall, I used cash maybe twice.

There was one thing I was sure I’d need cash for— nope, the hotel paid them and added it to my tab. Back in the day, that mostly happened only if you skipped out on a reservation and the restaurant wanted to collect the cancellation fee. Which has never happened to me so I guess I’m not sure it worked exactly like that.

I know a lot of people here hate credit cards and only use cash, but it’s honestly a pretty large hassle to get cash in every country you visit. Using the same card everywhere is way more convenient and cheaper (exchange fee + no % back like with a credit card)

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Isn't this because of those special stamps they use in Japan to notorize documents? I heard about them on a podcast: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/hanko/

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

Love that show.

[–] ferralcat@monyet.cc 1 points 11 months ago

I've heard it's just more of a burocracy thing. A friend there once told me he always puts the date wrong on the top of documents because there is a person who's job is to double check your work. They're judged on how often they find mistakes, so it's easier to put something blatantly wrong at the top that easily fixed so they can quickly find it and he can move on.

[–] tiredofsametab@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago

We are getting more and more stuff, but they often have a really shit UX. We can do some stuff on PC since the "My Number" card system, but that also requires installing all kinds of software, only works in certain browsers, etc.

[–] MaggiWuerze@feddit.de 2 points 11 months ago

sweats in german

[–] RainfallSonata@lemmy.world -1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You can fax at your local public library. It was only about six months ago that my state's social services dept. stopped requiring faxes.

[–] EinfachUnersetzlich@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Are you talking about Japan here?

[–] RainfallSonata@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] EinfachUnersetzlich@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh, that's in the US isn't it?

[–] odium@programming.dev 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)