I am also a Japan resident and I had to roll my eyes at the headline. Yes, there are some cool things like these in Japan, but as you say they are not widesprea

I am also a Japan resident and I had to roll my eyes at the headline. Yes, there are some cool things like these in Japan, but as you say they are not widespread, and there are plenty more examples of terrible UX, especially on the web. Not to mention all the businesses still stuck in the land of fax machines, IE6, and mountains of non-digitized paperwork. Many public and private systems and policies are extremely inefficient or completely nonsensical, simply because conservatism is prized over innovation.