Japanese Government Ends its Floppy and CD-ROM Obsession in the Age of Online Forms

Ever wondered why optical disc drives and floppy drives are still a thing in Japan? Turns out that as many as 1,900 government forms require Japanese citizens and businesses to mail in their data (forms, electronic attachments, etc.,) in physical media such as floppy disks, CD-ROMs, or MD cards (a floptical memory card)! They could also submit USB flash drives, but why would you give away a $5 flash drive when you could keep an optical- or floppy drive handy for when you have any business with your government? Rather use cheaper consumable storage media? Japan is finally changing this policy. Under the new policy, every citizen gets a unique identification number, called MyNumber, and can fill up online forms. Electronic attachments can finally be uploaded to an online database.