I T
WAS N’ T
F UT URI S T I C HOT E L S MY
ROB OT
T HAT
MI ND,
J AP AN’ S ON
T HE
I T
B L E W WAS
RE L I ANCE
T HE
F AX
MACHI NE
OF FAX MACHINES AND MEN QuHarrison Terry @QuHarrison/ QuHarrison.com In 2018 I traveled to Japan for the first time.
say government offices prefer faxes
I’ve been fascinated by technology ever
because they generate paperwork onto
since I was a young boy thus visiting Japan
which bureaucrats can affix their stamps of
and getting to see the future of technology
approval, called hanko. Quora “Imagine a
live in person was a dream come true.
world without fax machines”, is a talking
However, it wasn’t the futuristic robot
point you’ve probably never encountered.
hotels that blew my mind, it was Japan’s
Wedged somewhere in the timeline
reliance on the fax machine.In Japan, with
between the telephone and the personal
the exception of the savviest Internet start-
computer, fax machines are a technology
ups or internationally minded
afterthought and are almost never
manufacturers, the fax remains an essential
referenced as an influential 20th-century
tool for doing business. Experts
technology among the ranks of the
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