In search of things even Google didn't have the answers to

The answers to some questions are not immediately evident. Partly, perhaps, because nobody thought to ask them in the first place. But rather than being discouraged this provides grist for the mill for Spa! (Nov 28) magazine, who wanted to know, who buys floppy disks any more?

Some readers might even remember using a floppy disk. After all, it wasn't all that long ago that they were the most popular form of external storage media. Alas, the major producers such as Hitachi Maxell and Mitsubishi Chemical Media, had announced that by the spring of 2009 they would halt production. Sony soldiered on for two more years, but was out of the game by March 2011. (Yet, the writer notes, one can still find Sony brand floppy disks being sold online via Amazon Japan.)

Curiously, in 2014 Owltech (Who? Who?), a company based in Kanagawa Prefecture, launched new models of floppy disk drives. Spa! contacted the manufacturer to ask why and was told, "We'd been getting inquiries from various types of customers," a PR representative told Spa!, "and figured there was a specialized demand out there. So we decided to proceed with production." According to the spokesperson, the main customers were "businesses and government organizations, or those who had a lot of data they'd stored on their floppies decided to transfer it to other media, and needed a drive to do it."

The writer pointed out that confidential data stored on floppies might have been kept under lock and key to discourage illegal copying or hacking.

Next question please: Are condom vending machines still being produced? Fujitaka, one manufacturer, told Spa! it started producing them in 1995 and sold about 300 units a year during periods of peak demand, but halted production from 2003. The main factor in their demise was the stocking of condoms in late-night or all-night businesses such as convenience stores and drugstores. Two other vending machine makers, Mitsuwa Electric Industries and Daito Manufacturing, have also ceased production from around the same time. A few battered examples can still be found on the streets, but perhaps someday the writer predicts the only places you'll see them are in museums.

Are Chinese tourists, in fact, as urusai (annoying) as some people repute them to be? Before replying, Spa! issues a disclaimer against generalizations and stereotypes. If you're going to say, for example, that they are noisy and talk in loud voices, then let's try and confirm it by observing the volume on noise measurement devices, and compare with groups of Japanese and other nationalities.

So they did. In an electronics shop, they registered 76 decibels -- a "normal" noise level according to Japan's Environmental Agency. In a restaurant patronized mostly by Japanese, the noise level fluctuated between 60 and 70dB. In a Chinese restaurant with mostly Chinese patrons, it rose to from 70 to 80dB, but this figure is hardly ear-splitting and still lower than in restaurants in mainland China.

"When we Chinese return home for a visit and then come back to Japan," a Chinese resident here chuckled, "we notice our voices had become louder. It seems that when Chinese are in Japan, they tend to be more cautious."

To be fair to the Chinese, the article points out, some Caucasians who drink during cherry blossom viewing or while in cheap drinking establishments have been reputed to bellow at 120dB.

Finally, Spa! let its curiosity get the best of it and set out to discover what percentage of male-oriented sex businesses are also willing to service female patrons?

Spa's reporter inquired to 20 highly ranked "delivery health" (outcall sex businesses), of which five said they would welcome females, sometimes subject to certain conditions.

One confused party reacted to Spa's telephone query by asking, "What, is she asking for a job interview with us?"

Apparently the more popular the shop, the more likely the possibility it would deal with a woman. The person who answered the phone at the top-ranked business remarked, "Some of our male customers are female impersonators or men who like to dress up in drag, so you might say we're already catering to a wide range of tastes."

© Japan Today