It’s kind of a relic of the past now since everyone uses a streaming service of some kind now but right at the end of physical media’s lifespan, Japan had some key advantages over the US specifically because it was legal to rent albums and I believe individual songs, just like a Blockbuster. Eventually they had the music purchasing equivalent of Redbox in the form of kiosks as well with the advent of recordable Net-MD minidiscs, which only really ever saw success in Japan.
If you select the wrong floor on an elevator, you can deactivate it by pressing the button again.
Kei trucks that are extremely functional and fuel efficient.
The U.S. won’t ever get that because they are extremely functional and fuel efficient.
They have this crazy machine… Slide paper into it and then a hundred miles away a copy of that paper slides out.
Not overly high tech but such a good fit for the culture and extremely convenient:
Self-filling, self-warming baths
Put the plug in during the day, press the button to fill the bath at the remote keypad in the kitchen. Baths fills and a little jingle announces that the bath is ready at the perfect temperature.
