Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Is It Unusual For Japanese People To Use Computers?
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peko
Posts: 25 Location: Sweden |
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Been wondering about this ever since I watched Train Man.
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 712 |
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You are mistaken. Neon Genesis Evangelion takes place in 2015, so Shinji using a walkman is because he is retro. An important part of his character is that he clings to the past and is afraid of change, so the fact that his music playing device, which is also his prized possession, is old fashioned and outdated is part of the symbolism. |
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championferret
Posts: 765 |
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This reminds me - when I was living in Japan I had two Japanese friends, both my age. Neither of them had a computer, which I always thought was weird. I just took it for granted that all my friends in Australia had one. I didn't even realise they didn't until I asked them if they also liked to draw digitally (we sketched together as a hobby), since I'm a lot better at that than using a pencil nowadays.
Most things they would have used a computer for, though, you can do on a smartphone. Even before smartphones, the average japanese phone was much more advanced than the average western one. Now one of the friends has a tablet and I think the other got a laptop that the whole family shares. I often wondered if they'd have found it weird that every person in our family had their own laptop as well as the 'family' desktop computer. |
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Nice Tea
Posts: 86 |
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Do you computer? Can totally see that phrase pop up in a conversation between japanese people.
Kinda ironic/strange how most/many of them don't know how to use a computer, while they are pretty much as active/addicted to internet/blogs/twitter with their smartphones as we do. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Ironically, Japan has some of the most skilled overclockers in the world interviewed in this report along with Tomoko Ninomiya's manga. |
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Kougeru
Posts: 5530 |
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This was how America was in mid 00's, so Japan can catch up if they really tried. I was maybe one of 20 people in my school that used a computer more than once a week. Then people discovered myspace and eventually facebook.... |
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Zerreth
Posts: 207 Location: E6 |
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It's thanks to these kinds of questions that I realize how much of a vacuum in Japanese culture I'm exposed to. Animators are slowly using more and more 3D effects which use computers. All the doujin artists I know are mixing music on their macbooks. All the niconico videos and visual novels I consume require at least basic computer knowledge that I forget how low computer literacy actually is in Japan.
I had a similar eye opening sensation in Korea. My aunt's home had no wifi since it was only connected to two computers in the entire home via switch. That said, despite Korea's standards for internet, there were barely any decent home wifi or routers that existed, mainly because of how powerful cellphones and their respective companies were. You had the carrier's wifi hotspots literally everywhere including in the underground trains to the point where there was no need for wifi routing. Simply connect to your respective carrier's wifi hotspot once and it will jump access points for you. It's so convenient to the point where there's a data cap of about.... 50 MB(?) for a basic plan? If you REALLY needed a computer while on the go, just visit one of the many PC cafes littered throughout the cities. |
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residentgrigo
Posts: 2430 Location: Germany |
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@Polycell You can "turn it off" if you install programs to run against it and further mess around with Windows code. xp-AntiSpy should get a Win10 version, sooner or later, too.
Regarding the old tech discussion. I got to use one of these due to an uncle: The attached PC could only display the color green and my own´s MS-DOS helped to teach me English. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Well, it also depends on the business. If the business, organization, or agency receives a lot of paper forms from other places (the government or insurance companies, for instance), then either they have a skilled and experienced typist who can adjust the typewriter quickly and efficiently, or they just write them all on those papers. Which one is more efficient would depend on how skilled of a typist they can get. I still see typewriters and typewriter supplies being sold at office stores and electronics stores, and new models seem to be released every year.
That actually explains a lot about why cybercafés have been so popular in Korea. I remember cybercafés catching on in the United States, but they soon fell out of use when everyone got their own computers and Starbucks installed wi-fi in all of its locations. |
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Paiprince
Posts: 593 |
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They do use those among other image software. Just prowl around Pixiv and you'll see what they use (mostly Paint Tool SAI). I still say as a whole that Japanese people are tech savvy, but decided to go a different path from the rest of the world. Whereas everyone else is proud that they can build a riced up gaming rig with a million lights and fans, they are set on doing everything portable and mobile for computing. Let's not forget their time and attention spent holding a portable device be it a DS, tablet or smartpbine. In other words, they are computer literate just not in the traditional Desktop PC sense. I also don't agree that they should "keep up with the Joneses" when it comes to tech literacy. This "Japan is falling behind" bogeyman only serves to do that. From what I read, Japan isn't the only country in this "PC laggard" state. Even the good ol' USA and Canada have chunks of the population who have not touched a PC in their lives. Questions and answers like these open up even more misinderstandings about Japan, this time as some sort of portrayal that they're regressing into third world status or something. |
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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Well...do you have any actual data to refute what Justin's saying? Or any of the reports and surveys that he's cited?
Last edited by Shenl742 on Tue May 24, 2016 2:44 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Alan45
Village Elder
Posts: 9855 Location: Virginia |
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@leafy sea dragon
There is no question that it depends on the specific business. However it is changing rapidly. Most government agencies have their applications and other paperwork available on line in electronic format. When I did an accident report to my insurance company by phone last year the woman was entering my information directly into the computer. Even my primary physician has a laptop in the examining room. He enters my information directly. When I needed a new prescription he faxed it directly to my pharmacy from the laptop. It is a brave new world. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5971 |
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What is that a pinball machine? |
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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Computer penetration in Korea is still considerably higher than in Japan, though it has fallen slightly in the past few years as people turn to smartphones instead: http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/12/12/smartphone-usage-overtakes-pcs-in-south-korea/ I'd imagine the continued development of speech-to-text and voice-controlled systems will be a boon to countries like Japan, Korea, and China with their character-based languages. Devices like the Amazon Echo and the forthcoming Google Home seem tailor-made for Asian countries. Do people in Japan use speech-to-text to write now? |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Wow, I'm a bit jealous. I fractured my ankle earlier this month at work, and I was given a deluge of paper forms to fill from the company where I work, the insurance company, the hospital, and the government. Not one of them was digital. On rare occasions, I DO get digital forms. I'm guessing there was online communication between these various parties, but everything sent to me was 100% offline. But I guess they have to account for people who might not have any electronic device to fill forms with.
Yes, it's Stern's 2007 release of Spider-Man, based on the movies starring Tobey Maguire. It was never corrected during its entire run, but Stern has re-released the game using comic book artwork. The villain-themed modes all have completely different names, so that spelling mistake is not in that version. |
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