Japan’s Last Remaining Fax Machine Operator Retires, Government Immediately Hires Replacement

Ministry of Internal Affairs Confirms Fax Technology Is ‘Under Review’ in Review Process That Uses Fax

The Fax Machine: Japan’s Most Reliable Technology and Its Most Embarrassing

The retirement of Yoshio Tanaka, sixty-three, from his position as Senior Document Transmission Specialist at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has prompted renewed discussion in Japan about the country’s continued reliance on facsimile technology in government operations — a discussion that has been ongoing since approximately 2010 and has produced, in the intervening fifteen years, several ministerial commitments to digitalization, numerous task forces and working groups, a Digital Agency established in 2021 with a mandate to ‘eliminate fax dependency,’ and the hiring of Tanaka-san’s replacement, Kenji Watanabe, fifty-eight, who begins in the role next Monday and whose first task will be to confirm his appointment by fax.

‘The fax machine is reliable,’ said a ministry official who declined to be identified because discussing the fax machine has become politically sensitive in a way that document transmission technology would not typically be considered politically sensitive. ‘It produces a paper record. The paper record is auditable. The digital alternatives produce records that are also auditable but the fax produces a paper record immediately which is the format our receiving offices expect because they have fax machines.’

The Digital Agency’s Position

Japan’s Digital Agency, established specifically to reduce Japan’s dependence on analogue processes including fax, hanko stamps, and in-person document submission, confirmed that progress has been made in multiple sectors while noting that interoperability with legacy systems remains a challenge and that ‘the elimination of fax in government communications is a target we are working toward through a phased approach that acknowledges the need for organizational change management.’ The Agency communicated this position via email. The Ministry of Land confirmed receipt by fax.

Japan digital transformation news at The Japan Times. Comedy: The Daily Mash.

SOURCE: http://prat.UK