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Comment by SimeVidas | Hacker News Reader

You could probably ask the same question about digital vs. physical paperwork. Japan is old-fashioned.

> Japan is old-fashioned.

It's a little reductive. I'd rather say Japan is typically happy with local maximas instead of aiming at better, newer systems. Sometimes this means that Japan is stuck with obsolete technologies for what seems no good reason, some other times Japan is actually advanced in other ways that seem alien to the rest of the world (the rest of the World not using washlets to clean their butts seems old-fashioned to anyone living in Japan).

Yes, because a comprehensive hydrogen strategy with the plan to produce hydrogen in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors is “old fashioned”.

> https://www.meti.go.jp/english/policy/energy_environment/glo...

> https://www.jaea.go.jp/04/o-arai/en/research/research_03.htm...

Fuel cells were all the rage when I was a kid. You saw them on TV all the time. I don't have to see EVs on TV, they are absolutely everywhere nowadays.

I think you were being sarcastic, but it actually is. Nuclear is so 20th century.

Doing it with PV and grid-scale batteries, now...

(Note: large amounts of electrolysed hydrogen are definitely needed in order to replace methane in fertilizer production and coal in steelmaking. No argument about the need to make hydrogen!)

Japan only just started converting from Tape to Digital for advertising material for broadcasters a couple of years ago, while tape is almost a thing of the past for the rest of the world.

They were so concerned about businesses whose job it is to make the tapes that they literally built a new business to migrate these workers into new jobs.

I think the concern this shows for workers livelihoods is something that much of the rest of the world could learn from. The implementation seems a bit inefficient though.

So is the US, it's like travelling back in time when you go over there and people still use checks and paper money.

Kinda curious where you live because I haven't seen nearly anyone use cash in my immediate family or friend group in nearly a decade.

There's only a few people I know, one is an aunt who is over 70 years old and the other is a stripper.

Everyone else I know just uses a credit or debit card. Even buying drugs people will just opt to use venmo or cashapp rather than going to an ATM.

I will say my family lives near large metro areas. Maybe in more rural cities people are more likely to use cash?

Legal drugs, or illegal (in japan)?

Sorry not Japan, this is the US which is who the person I was replying to mentioned. Sorry for the confusion!

Isn't Japan the place (in)famous for still using paper money everywhere?

Why is it infamous to use paper money besides during a pandemic? It’s the only way to buy something without being tracked and profiled, and it makes budgeting easier. You can actually exchange it without an intermediary taking a cut or deciding to block the transaction

Inefficiency and tax avoidance.

Maybe tax avoidance for the mob and for poor people. 99.9% of unpaid taxes are hiding overseas in digital accounts

The government decided recently that cashless payments are the future so they’ve been heavily incentivizing people to use transit cards and such for payments, as of recent almost all chains and many small stores accept them :)

I'd argue there are advantages to both cheques and paper money over digital. Your purchases can't be as easily tracked if you use paper money for example.

I use and prefer paper money every chance I get. Digital cash makes it far harder to track spending and stick to a budget

Crazy to think that in my childhood Japan was seen as this futuristic nation with stuff like HDTV decades ahead of the rest of the world.

they accept "digital chops" now!

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