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Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

mainichi.jp

51–60 of 222 posts

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#51

The citizens are probably fine, because.. flopp disks!? Who can read those now? ;-)

I still have a USB floppy drive that came with a Vaio laptop from the early 2000s. I've only ever used it once just to test that it worked but have held onto it for fun.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#52
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m under the impression it’s a similar thing in Sweden regarding trains. I heard they give you money to cover a taxi if the train is late by a few minutes or something.

They don't give money, but they do get you a taxi if you missed your train change. Alternatively, a night at a nearby hotel and a new trip the next morning.

Only if there is no other option. If there's another train in three hours, then you are waiting three hours.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#53
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese culture is very strict about being being precise and having high expectations of each other and of companies in general. Some may not know this, but trains, and railcars in Japan are accurate _down to the second_ and if there's any deviation from that, the management company for the line will generally offer an apology to the riders. The easiest one I could find was from 2017 where a train left the station 2…

I was on a 3 hour Shinkansen trip that was 2 minutes late and the staff profusely apologized when we arrived. I have also been on a cross US Amtrak trip that was literally 30 hours late and they rationed food and the staff became increasingly rude and unhelpful.

Same here in Canada. I used to take the train between Montreal and Toronto frequently and I don't actually remember it ever being on time. It usually was 30-60 minutes late, since Via Rail shared rail with freight trains, but had a lower priority so it often needed to wait.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#54
post #6

Will we pretend that the usage of floppy disks is normal in almost 2022? Or perhaps the news value comes from this fact, but then, they don't make any comment on it... Weird. I also love that they seem to be taking this seriously, even when it's just 38 people, while all over the world, governments (cough Turkey cough) don't even apologize when they leak the personal details of ALL of their citizens. Well.

Why even publish this tbh? I mean it's good they're doing that, but advertising a leak with so few people affected seems weird to me.

This is Japan. If someone finds an item on the street it will be dropped off at the nearest Kōban box (small police station that are everywhere). I lost a pair of sunglasses once that were $$ that I cared about them. I had a rough idea of were I lost them. The next day I went to the local Kōban and sure enough they had them. Lots paperwork to get them back as it is Japan.

https://jref.com/articles/koban-japanese-police-boxes.199/

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#55

BusinessInsider, October 2021, "The Japanese government is still trying to phase out floppy disks a decade after Sony stopped making them" https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-government-tokyo-flopp...

> The disks "almost never broke and lost data," Yoichi Ono, who is in charge of managing public funds for Meguro ward, told the Nikkei. This was not my experience.

I've never had to do more surgery on my storage media to recover data than I did on floppy disks.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#56
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why even publish this tbh? I mean it's good they're doing that, but advertising a leak with so few people affected seems weird to me.

Japanese culture is very strict about being being precise and having high expectations of each other and of companies in general. Some may not know this, but trains, and railcars in Japan are accurate _down to the second_ and if there's any deviation from that, the management company for the line will generally offer an apology to the riders. The easiest one I could find was from 2017 where a train left the station 2…

I wonder why the Japanese culture is like that. Obviously, some other nations could use the same precision and keeping companies (and governments) to high standards. But out of all countries, I can only think of Japan that does that.

Is it because of language? Religion? Genetics? Isolation? What is the reason?

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#57
post #40
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese culture is very strict about being being precise and having high expectations of each other and of companies in general. Some may not know this, but trains, and railcars in Japan are accurate _down to the second_ and if there's any deviation from that, the management company for the line will generally offer an apology to the riders. The easiest one I could find was from 2017 where a train left the station 2…

I presume then they are computer controlled? If so, how does one actually leave early or late?

Computer control is nice but it's one tiny piece. If wayside infrastructure fails during rush hour, trains are going to be delayed, so they have to assure that won't happen. Station dwell times are another big issue that computers don't have any control over (the train can't leave when someone's backpack is caught in the door).

Computer control is more of a safety issue than a reliability enhancer. Computers are pretty good at stopping trains before they crash into another train or rocket off of a curve some idiot took at 80mph, but not so good at driving the train at its safe limits. Ever ride BART? It's been fully automatic since its inception (in normal operation, drivers have an e-stop button and make announcements) and it isn't setting records for on-time performance.

I think the fascination with Japan's on-time record is a little overblown. I went to high school in Tokyo and I was late plenty of times due to train problems. Snow? Schedule is fucked for the entire day; trains canceled, trains late. Someone falls in front of a train? You're not going anywhere for an hour. As a rider of the New York subway system during the "meltdown", I can tell you that you can absolutely do worse than Japan. But the MTA was still happy to hand out vouchers explaining why I was late to work.

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#58
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese culture is very strict about being being precise and having high expectations of each other and of companies in general. Some may not know this, but trains, and railcars in Japan are accurate _down to the second_ and if there's any deviation from that, the management company for the line will generally offer an apology to the riders. The easiest one I could find was from 2017 where a train left the station 2…

I was on a 3 hour Shinkansen trip that was 2 minutes late and the staff profusely apologized when we arrived. I have also been on a cross US Amtrak trip that was literally 30 hours late and they rationed food and the staff became increasingly rude and unhelpful.

In Wales, I've had a train scheduled for every hour that has both just not shown up and has ran straight through the station without stopping (lol).

Pretty awesome watching the train you've been waiting for just sort of keep going :D. (The magic of newtown Wales!)

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#59
post #43
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese culture is very strict about being being precise and having high expectations of each other and of companies in general. Some may not know this, but trains, and railcars in Japan are accurate _down to the second_ and if there's any deviation from that, the management company for the line will generally offer an apology to the riders. The easiest one I could find was from 2017 where a train left the station 2…

I’m under the impression it’s a similar thing in Sweden regarding trains. I heard they give you money to cover a taxi if the train is late by a few minutes or something.

Not at all, trains and tracks in Sweden are old and not properly maintained. And the official statistics regarding punctuality is insanely misleading.

Yes, if they screw you over you might get a taxi ride. But most probably you'd just have to wait for several hours and get up to 50% of the ticket price as a voucher for the next trip.

Trains are one of the most embarrassing part of Sweden. And we are probably going to spend and absolute fortune on new tracks and new slow trains (slow because costs have already spun out of control).

Re: Tokyo police lose 2 floppy disks containing info on public housing applicants

#60
I use floppy disks for my Akai S2800 sampler :) Originally built around 1992 it still works (and sounds) great! Modding it to support USB is too expensive, and I quite enjoy some of the limitations it brings. You have to get creative for some things.
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