Sorry to annoy you Mreik but I have to get in on this one. There's some serious misinformation in this thread.
Japan is an economically powerful country with a rich history, a unique culture and a lot of interesting gadgets. It is not, however, the most technologically advanced country in the world. That title goes to Finland as Nobody stated.
"While smaller than many European markets, Finland is one of the most competitive and technologically advanced countries in the world. Promising growth forecasts, low inflation outlook, superior technological and scientific expertise, and a leading innovation system count among the elements insuring Finland a strong position in the science and technology sector.
The Global Competitiveness Report, an annual study undertaken by the World Economic Forum, ranked Finland first both in terms of growth competitiveness and in its current competitiveness ranking (2004-2005). The extremely well managed economy, the quality of Finnish public institutions, lowest level of corruption, culture of innovation, and good government finances (the country has been running budget surpluses for several years anticipating the aging of its population), all contribute to Finland's top position.
Another report from the UN development organisation (UNDP) ranks Finland as the most advanced country in the world because of its high level of Internet penetration and the population's average predisposition to learn and work with new technologies. The high level of population know-how was also underlined by the OECD latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) Survey 2003. This study looked at student performance in problem-solving, science and reading and at students' approaches and attitudes to school in 41 countries. In the study, Finland once again came out top with high performances in mathematics and science, matching those of top-ranking Asian school systems in China, Japan and Korea. This top performance in mathematics and science adds to Finland's previous leading position in the PISA 2000 reading assessment.
After Sweden and Switzerland, notable for producing a lot of patents in relation to the size of their population, Finland counts among the top ten countries which have the highest number of patents in relation to population size, at the European and US patent offices. Compared with other EU countries, Finland shows a significant specialisation in ICT patenting. "
The above is a concise explanation of why. The technological advancement of a country is not evaluated by the number of sophisticated tools its members possess. It is a function of the relative knowledge levels of its populace and their application of that knowledge to scientific and industrial progress. While Japan is certainly a contender, it is not foremost among nations for several reasons. A significant one of which was Japan's initial tardiness in adopting the internet, what many would call the single greatest technological advancement of the last century.
This takes nothing away from the many admirable qualities of Japan as a society and a nation, I just felt compelled to clear this up.
