Japan scrapped every regulation requiring the use of floppy disks for administrative purposes this week, catching up with the times 13 years after the country’s producers manufactured their last units.

Japan has long been known for innovation, but experts say the nation’s lasting embrace of outdated hardware may have deeper roots in culture and practicality.

In 2021, Mr Kono had "declared war" on floppy disks. On Wednesday, almost three years later, he announced: "We have won the war on floppy disks!" Mr Kono has made it his goal to eliminate old technology since he was appointed to the job. He had earlier also said he would "get rid of the fax machine".

You might have presumed it happened years or even decades ago; however, on June 28, Japan officially stopped using floppy disks in government offices. "We have won the war on floppy disks on June 28!" Japan's Digital Minister Taro Kono said in a statement to Reuters after replacing the final disk.

Being just shy of 30 years old, for me, floppy disks feature in memories of a bygone era, where disks could be inserted into your machine with a satisfying thunk, perhaps to boot up Doom or another classic DOS game.

Floppy disks are no longer good for government work in Japan, among the last places where the ancient storage devices remain in wide use. But these rules have now finally been scrapped, said Digital Minister Taro Kono.