A Major problem for Japan
Fax Machines are still used quite a lot in Japan. Nearly every household possesses one, even households without any other form of technology.
Makes sense given their technology lust where everyone bought a fax machine to exchange graphical data then didn't see the point of upgrading to e-mail when it became popular. Especially since if everyone has a fax machine, why would you want to purchase a computer, pay for an internet connection, and pay for an email address (Well, they're free now...) when a fax machine just needs a second phone line.
The fact that their economy went right into the crapper in 1989, and never really recovering, certainly didn't help things, though.