Japan: The Silicon Valley of the World.

For so seemingly technologically advanced a place, Japan has some of the worst tech.

In Korea, every teacher and classroom had a personal desktop computer. Ok desktops seem a bit behind the times, sure. But lets face it. You are at a desk. The towers were extremely slender with pleasing graphic designs on them. They had accompanying LCD monitors, and occasionally in multiple. These desktops were quite new, with techs always on call for when or if they malfunction. But best of all they were fast.

Here in Japan. I have a desk furnished with a laptop. You might think this is convenient and that I can take it to the classroom with ease. But rest assured the classrooms have their very own laptops. These laptops are not new in any feasible sense of the word. My laptop is a lovely 2004 model for a Fujitsu. Yeah my opinion as well. What the hell is Fujitsu doing with their fingers in the computer business. Stay outa that! It is a lovely beast of 8 pounds and change. It has a long life of thirty minutes to one hour unplugged. Trust me, these things never get unplugged...probably since 2004. The MacAir's girth simply pails in comparison with a two inch disadvantage. Please, if you don't believe me, have a look. Most days I am lucky if I can get to Chrome in the first 10 minutes of work. The boot up, log in, and loading of Chrome actually take that long. And don't even get my started on Internet Explorer.
Another technology deficient area in Japan is the train system. Oh I mean they have things like the Shinkansen, which can get you from Osaka to Tokyo in under two hours, but then they have the local train rails. Which sometimes don't even have doors that open automatically at each stop (Nagano). There will be nothing protecting you from jumping onto the tracks if desired (pretty much everywhere). In Korea, every subway station in Seoul and Incheon has glass barriers in place to prevent such 'accidents' from occurring. In Japan they might have them at a few of the popular station (possibly in Tokyo?) but have instead opted for the technological advance and expense of blue lighting. They have decided that this blue lighting will calm people and prevent them from ending up on the tracks. As such, the safety of the glass barriers is not needed.

On the flip side, they poke fun at America's attempts at robots and have elite facial recognition programs. They are even already in progress of building an even faster train that will run on magnets and break all records.

I suppose in a sense, it is not what Japan has, it is what they can have? As they have the technology for it, but feel not the need to splurge on the installment of these advancements.