Japan started millennium bug preparations much later than, for example, the US and is racing to catch up.

Manufacturers worldwide are worried that trade will suffer if Japan does not complete preparations in time.

In July, a report from HSBC Securities Japan named several companies that were facing a high risk of disruption. The report was based on an analysis of 298 Japanese companies and discovered many of them had started Y2K work worryingly late.

Leading manufacturers like Sony and Mitsubishi are not expected to have problems, but smaller companies, which make up 80% of Japan's manufacturing industry, have been slow to act.

Japanese advantages

Japan is, in some ways, reported to be in a stronger position than Britain and the US.

Japanese banks use mainly large mainframe computers that are cheaper to survey and repair than US computers. Many computer systems were overhauled in the early 1990s and switched to four-digit dates as a matter of routine.

Japan does have a shortage of programmers who can deal with Year 2000 problems, but on the plus side, IT workers tend to be more loyal to their employers than the West.

Programmers who stay in the same job know how to maintain systems quickly, while programmers in, for example, the US move on more frequently and perhaps do not properly document their work.

The 'emperor' solution

Japan has the added advantage of being able to write dates differently to western countries and so avoid the '00' date change that is causing so much concern. Japan sometimes uses the 'emperor' date system, where 1998 is Heisei 10.

Problems can be caused when it is not clear which system is being used - but smaller firms are finding the Y2K problem can be solved by switching to the emperor system.

Health worries

The Japanese government insists it is making progress in beating the bug and in March issued a very positive statement on Japan's level of preparation.

According to the statement, 40% of medical equipment was still being tested for problems but no problems had yet arisen.

But the Japanese health and welfare ministry admitted in June that 1,297 types of medical equipment were still at risk from millennium bug failure.

According to a survey carried out by the ministry, almost a quarter of companies quizzed said they had no intention of making contingency plans, despite government warnings.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 26, 1999