Mr Fax San, hai!

Here’s an amusing story from the BBC’s Tokyo correspondent. Apparently, In Japan, the fax machine is not so much gathering dust in the loft (like Mr Frog’s), but still has a central plinth reserved for it in the centre of most offices and homes. This, we are told, comes from the Japanese’s abiding love for caligraphy, and the notion that sending something printed off a PC reeks of the kind of impersonal slovenliness that will win you no friends over in the world of Big Neon, robots and the rising sun.

Given their love for mecha, you would have thought a few 21-st century printer missives would have gone down okay; but there’s nothing so queer as folk.

It’s a fascinating article – give it a go over at… http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19045837