Because most people accessed the internet on their clamshell phones and not through a PC/laptop. So most websites were designed to be mostly text and easily bro

Because most people accessed the internet on their clamshell phones and not through a PC/laptop. So most websites were designed to be mostly text and easily browsed from clamshell-phone internet browsers. Now that smartphones have become ubiquitous more sites are finally being designed to look nice on smartphones - sometimes still at the consequence of desktop use. It took a few years after the iPhone release (aka: for it to get widespread market adoption) for JP websites to start "catching up" with Western web design. There are some other reasons too - but I'd wager the above is the #1 reason and others are more of an "in addition to that" type thing. More info: https://randomwire.com/why-japanese-web-design-is-so-different/ https://randomwire.com/why-japanese-web-design-is-so-differe...