Paper jungle
These are typical Japanese high school teachers' desks. Japanese offices are still awash with paper, despite the inroads made by computers in the last couple of decades. Computers and communication technologies are the greatest change in the world since I've lived here. But Japanese are hereditarily conservative and they still use and rely on paper more than many other countries. Personally, I don’t blame them, and the habit even appeals to me, because nothing beats the durability of paper. In addition, paper is “authentic.” It is not virtual. It’s not that there is a paucity of technology here. Just the opposite. Countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore are more saturated with everyday technology even than the U.S. But things still function differently here even with the digital stuff.
And, to go along with all the paper is the Japanese retention of the personal seal, or “hanko.” It is the personal seal, not the written signature that serves as identification in Japan. In order for business to work smoothly, everything has to be inked and re-inked with personal seals. There is increasing resistance to the age-old personal seal - especially now, during the coronavirus crisis which is putting everything in a new perspective and forcing new behaviors and ways of thinking upon us - but the hanko still reigns. Maybe not for much longer, though.