Unpacking the Technological Paradox: Japan’s Analog Affinity and South Korea’s Digital Shift

Japan is undeniably a technologically advanced country, where digital technologies play a significant role in various aspects of life and industry. At the same time, however, it has shown a strong analog persistence. For instance, a 2023 survey indicates that nearly one in three households still own a fax machine. This trend is especially pronounced among high-income families, with 41 percent of households earning 20 million yen (approximately 130,000 USD) or more continuing to use this decades-old technology. This analog device remains indispensable for almost every business.

The enduring presence of these landline-based machines is not due to a lack of advanced personal communication tools. In fact, Japan pioneered mobile internet before the turn of the century. By the end of 2000, NTT DoCoMo had signed up over 10 million subscribers to its i-mode internet service—long before the iPhone was on the horizon. Nevertheless, coin-operated public phones still proudly stand in city centers, subway stations, airports, and school campuses. These bright green analog phones are a defining feature of Japan, alongside many cash-only restaurants scattered across the country.

Japan’s seeming caution to fully embrace digital technology is nothing new; similar attitudes were evident in the 1980s when the country’s thriving electronic industry sought to capture public interest in personal computers. At the time, Japanese manufacturers were churning out cutting-edge, sleek, and even colorful machines that inspired envy among American PC makers. However, Japanese consumers did not show much interest in the devices that were taking the world by storm, except for a limited number of hobbyists and early adopters.

Japanese society’s slow adoption of PCs—and subsequently, PC-based internet—has left many scholars scratching their heads. With disposable income being one of the strongest predictors of technology diffusion, the Japanese had some of the deepest pockets in the world during the 1980s. As an example, Japan’s GNP per capita exceeded $20,000 in 1988, surpassing that of the United States. As a result, Japan was labeled one of the outliers—“relatively affluent yet displaying lower-than-average internet penetration rates,” as Pippa Norris put it.

Kang tackles this mystery by comparing Japan with another exceptional case: South Korea. This neighboring country has been considered an outlier for the opposite reason—its people embraced computer and internet technologies surprisingly quickly, despite having a significantly lower income level than Japan. While South Korea surpassed Japan in per capita GDP in the early 2020s, its average income in the 1980s was less than one-fourth of Japan’s. What explains these contrasting attitudes toward computers and the internet?

To answer this question, Kang traces the evolution of media discourses surrounding computers and the internet from the 1980s to the 1990s. By analyzing and comparing PC advertisements in both countries, he examines what these new machines meant to the Japanese and Korean publics. In doing so, he reevaluates the relevance of conventional explanations, such as Japan’s aging population and language-input barriers. Finally, he situates his findings within broader historical and cultural contexts, exploring representations of technology in literature, film, and animation, including Godzilla, Astro Boy, and Galaxy Express 999.

About the speaker:

Inkyu Kang is a professor of journalism and communication at Penn State University, Behrend College. Having earned his MA and PhD in Media and Cultural Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he also taught there before transitioning to Penn State. His experience extends internationally, encompassing visiting scholar positions at Rikkyo University in Japan (2024) and Saint Petersburg State University in Russia (2017). 

His primary research interests include global media, visual semiotics, and new media technology. He has published in major academic journals, coauthoring or coediting several anthologies, including Eyewitness Textures: User-Generated Content and Journalism in the Twenty-First Century (2024), Future Yet to Come: Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Modern Korea (2021), Sport in Korea: History, Development, Management (2018), K-Pop: The International Rise of the Korean Music Industry (2015), and Korean Popular Culture Reader (2014). 

Kang’s work has been featured in news outlets such as The Guardian, USA Today, and Billboard Magazine. He is also an award-winning journalist who has written extensively about cultural and technological issues.