Il Giappone è 30 anni indietro rispetto alla Cina nel settore tecnologico
Japan vs China: two neighbours, two completely different futures.
Step into Tokyo in 2025 and you’ll still see signs screaming “CASH ONLY.” Salarymen line up at ATMs, old flip phones survive like fossils, and landlords refuse credit cards like it’s the plague. Japan — the country we thought was leading the future — is actually stuck in a permanent 1995 time warp.
Now cross over to China. From Beijing to Shanghai, digital payments are everywhere. Nobody carries cash, nobody uses paper. Even street vendors take Alipay and WeChat Pay. China skipped straight into the future while Japan clings to coins and paper bills.
So what happened? How did the land of robots and bullet trains get beaten by QR codes and smartphones?
Is this a cultural choice — or proof that Japan’s “innovation myth” was always smoke and mirrors?
In this video, we expose the digital divide between Japan and China, and why Japan’s refusal to change has left it lagging behind. The truth might surprise you — or make you laugh out loud the next time you see someone proudly using a flip phone in Tokyo.
If you enjoy brutally honest takes on Asia’s economy, culture, and myths — hit subscribe. Unlike Japan’s banking system, it doesn’t require a hanko stamp.
8 Comments
Cash vs QR — who’s got it right?
Japan: Still cash, paper, and flip phones.
China : Fully digital, QR codes everywhere.
Which world would you rather live in?
Vote below by commenting “Team Cash” or “Team QR.”
Let’s see which one dominates this comment section.
QR codes were actually invented by the Japanese tho
we japanese have been saying only one thing You World People ;
"After You, leave us alone."
Cuando viví en Japón en los años 90, observé que aún existia centrales telefonicas electromecanicos, cuando el resto del mundo ya eran todos digitales. Entonces entendí que una tecnologia madura ampliamente usada es dificil y costosa de cambiar.
En Perú, las centrales telefonicas eran todas digitales porque la expansion RECIEN se díó en esa época. Y lo más probable es que en un futuro proximo, Africa tenga más redes de 6G que EEUU.
¿Que Japon construye cosas para durar?
No le veo el problema a eso. El problema es que necesitemos un sistema de consumo constante.
¿Que China está adelante en tecnologia?
Bueno, ¿qué se puede esperar de una poblacion de 1600 millones con deseos de ser potencia y en la que todo se tiene que hacer y por lo tanto, de reciente manufactura?
China desea las cosas que ya tiene Japon, pero si se trata de un telefono, tiene que ser uno de 6G y si desea trenes balas, tiene que ser para 1,600 millones de personas, eso es todo.
¿Japon fue solo una ilusion?
Digamos que Japon aprovechó la oportunidad de la guerra fria. Y la aprovechó en los 60,70 y 80 con disponibilidad de energia y una banca estrategica. Y ahora, se autorestringe de energia abundante y barata y su banca está dominada por la FED.
¿que su juventud no es innovadora?
¿Pero qué pais es innovador con la juventud de su propio pais, excepto China que tiene 1600 millones de habitantes con inmigracion interna muy fuerte? Si quieres una juventud innovadora, tienes que atraerla de todo el mundo, algo que hizo EEUU y que Japón no lo hizo.
Where did QR come from?
Whos saying this?
China?😂😂😂😂
Name ONE good high tech product from China that NEVER broke down!😂😂😂😂
Dear Professor Nam:
In detailing me previous response, I must clarify that when referring to the strategic banking adopted by Japan in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, I am basing my commentary on the documentary "Princess of the Yen," which I hope you are familiar with.
Understanding what money is is vitally important in a world where international trade in national currencies will bring about a change of era.
I think Japan should move away from speculative stock markets, focus on production, and regain control over its currency under an independent and professional central bank that returns to strategic investments without the yoke of the US Treasury and the Fed.
To achieve this, it must rely on governments that effectively fight or contain their financial oligarchies.
At the domestic economic level, they should fight for profit-sharing among large companies (not small ones) as a form of income distribution. Without this mechanism, the concentration of wealth only paralyzes the economy.
The cash thing, is mostly about interest rates. for a while interest rates were negative, so people stopped keeping cash in banks and instead kept cash in their wallet, and invested, not in bank savings.