Lesson: Reams and Reams

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” These are the now-famous words Mark Twain wrote to the press in the United States after they had mistakenly published his obituary while he was in London and very much alive. We can use the same words about paper. While Mark Twain did eventually die, physical paper refuses to do so even though we have been talking about ‘going digital’ for a few decades now. Humans have a special relationship with this old-world technology. Nowhere is this more evident than in Japan. We have discussed digital financial transactions and how Estonia has initiated a digital system for almost everything. But I do not believe we have ever considered Japan’s and perhaps your personal relationship with paper. How do you interact with it? Are you proud of Japan’s long history of traditional papermaking? When do you prefer physical paper documents, and when digital copies? Do you see a day when paper and paper products such as cardboard boxes for the delivery of online purchases will no longer be necessary? Have the reports of the death of paper been greatly exaggerated?