Technology

That's a Japan thing and a legislative failure.

What normally happens in most countries is the law would say something vague like "digital means or devices such as floppy disks or equivalent".
Then the Executive makes and maintains the rules of application of that law according to the Hierarchy of Norms (things probably are organized differently in Common Law countries so I don't know the English term but the principle is the same), which dictates in more detail how the law is to be applied ("please use a web form, or a USB keys for legacy processes").

Sometimes the executive lags behind a bit but typically it's just a ministry making decisions within the margin of the law, so it's not too bad.

Without it we get a different iPhone charger every year that no other device is allowing to use

It's an argument of centralization vs. decentralization and there are pros and cons to each approach.

I hear data in Japan is smaller and efficiently organized.

Are you snubbing 8" floppies just because they don't fit in your pocket?

where I live (not Japan), trams are updated with a suitcase worth of floppy disks (and these are the more modern trams here)

Older Boeing's use floppies to update their flight computer data even today

One thing came to mind, Irreplaceable infrastructure computer systems from decades ago.

There are powerplants and oil rigs that use computer from decades ago which is irreplaceable (either due to technical or cost effective).

10 to one they weren't, look how oddly this article is phrased. I'd guess there was a rule government offices had to accept floppy discs, have the equipment to read them, but the clients weren't actually submitting that way anymore.

Their government agencies still used a lot of them.

It was a happier time, I miss my atomic purple floppies.

—

I rewrote that several times because I have the mind of a child, but atomic purple 3.5” was even worse so I give up and you get to enjoy both.

I still have some somewhere. One even says "DOOM" on it, of course.

Sure, that's never going. Why would we want to lose our technological connection to Abraham Lincoln and samurai?

Healthcare worker, chiming in:

Yes please.

What year is this, 2015?

FTA:

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has abolished any requirement for applicants to use this ancient clicking and buzzing magnetic media when filing official documents. Until last week there were about 1,900 official governmental application procedures that stipulated businesses must submit floppies or CD-ROMs (specifically) containing supplementary data.

Open and close the metal shutter on the disk in their general direction to assert dominance

You tie them to the desk and withhold food and water until they reformat an entire box of Mac floppies for use in Windows.

They're not banning floppies lol, they're just not required for submitting things to the government anymore.