Japanese government (finally) says a final farewell to floppy disks

The Japanese government has followed through on its promises of removing 1.44MB floppy disks from operating in government computer systems.

In a new report from Reuters, we're learning that Digital Minister Taro Kono was proud to announce: "We have won the war on floppy disks on June 28!" The Japanese government and its Digital Agency removed all 1034 regulations governing the use of 1.44MB floppy disks, except for a single environmental stricture related to vehicle recycling.

Kono has been quite vocal about removing fax machines and other older technology being used by the Japanese government, with the Digital Agency established during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. They were tasked with rolling out nationwide testing and vaccinations, revealing that the Japanese government still relied on paper filing and outdated technology.

Kono was the former boss of defense and foreign ministries and the COVID vaccine deployment across Japan. Kono stepped up into the Digital Agency in August 2022, after a failed attempt at becoming the prime minister of Japan.

• Read more: Japanese government no longer requires businesses to submit information with floppy disks

Japan's digitization efforts have had multiple issues in the past, with its contract-tracing app face-planting during the pandemic, like other countries, including Australia, which failed miserably with its same efforts during the pandemic. Japan's government's "My Number" digital identification card adoption has been slower than it hoped, which is no surprise to most people.

Kono himself has amassed a huge 2.5 million+ followers on X, and now being the driving force behind removing 1.44MB floppy disks from use by the Japanese government should only see him gain more followers as people agree with his moves.