

Revealing Japan's Low-Tech Belly - dkasper
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10543126.stm

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jac_no_k
It's a strange place to live. It's a mixture of old pre-internet methods that
work mixed with some fantastically modern infrastructure.

What works: Whenever I have business with the local ward (city | government)
office, a lot of the work is done without computers. Yet my requests are
serviced very quickly. Very much unlike say the DMV in Southern California.

What works: High speed Internet, whether wired or through the cell network.

Fail: ATMs that seem to be down for maintenance constantly. Why the constant
down time?

Fail: General attitude on change. Just accepting the way things are is norm,
even if it's broken or flawed. It's strange since so many strive for
perfection.

Fail: In general, the people here are very very smart. But very few people
have an original idea and enough will to execute. Related to the Fail above.

