Japan decided it was time to stop using floppy disks

We are more than 20 years into the 21st century and you have probably forgotten about floppy disks.

Not in Japan.

Businesses in this country still need small old-fashioned plastic parts due to many legal requirements.

The commission found approximately 1,900 government and agency regulations governing the use of specific storage devices (including floppy disks) for specific applications and data storage.

Fortunately, the country’s digital minister has promised IT sectors across the country that they will usher in the digital age.

Minister Taro Kono promised to update regulations to allow people to use online services instead of outdated physical means.

In addition to declaring war on floppy disks, Kono is heavily targeting CD-ROMs and MiniDiscs (remember those?)

“We will review these practices as soon as possible,” Kono told a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.

“Where are floppy disks sold these days?”

To let everyone know he was serious, he promised to get rid of the fax machine.

Kono said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had expressed his full support.

Floppy disks were once the most important accessory for computer users and offices around the world, to store data in an easy-to-store format that could be easily transferred between computers.

In 1998, with 2 billion units sold worldwide, every computer needed an “A drive” to function.

Little Beauty can store up to 80KB of data, gradually increasing to 1.44MB.

That said, things have moved on a bit. Thirty years later, in 2011, the Japanese tech giant Sony stopped making floppy disks.

Now it’s just used as a digital storage icon in most apps and sometimes as a novelty drink in retro-themed cafes.