I can make these in Excel. May I make it?

I have a bit of Excel skills, so I can create various things with Excel.

I can create various things by merging Excel borders with cells.

For example, a graph that does not use the graph function. Indicate the first scale with a cell.

You can also make it like this. The cell is marked with a single scale, but it is displayed as a symbol without filling it in.

I can also draw drawings in Excel.

You can also create something like a wiring diagram by connecting the cells.

I can also create a clean calculation sheet using cell widths and cell joining.

Since I can make them, I can make them too, right?

In the example above, Excel’s features are fully utilized to achieve a clean layout. That’s wonderful.

Plus, it’s efficient to create and looks great.

The government is also using this method

Japan’s Digital Agency is a top-ranking government organization responsible for DX in Japan.

You can also download files using this method there.

https://www.digital.go.jp/policies/local_governments/common-feature-specification

住登外者宛名基本情報照会API仕様書, 2026年2月27日

There was a time when the Minister in charge at the Digital Agency was Diet member Taro Kono.

Before taking office, he had previously instructed the Ministry of Education on X to completely eliminate Excel documents with this structure.

https://x.com/konotarogomame/status/793699820712054784

During his tenure and even in 2026, this document will be available for download.

Even under the knees of the minister who criticizes it, I can feel the power that continues to exist.

Is it really okay?

Is that really okay?

Not bad. But it’s not good.

Excel is software that performs calculations using tables. It is not layout software. Nor is it graphic software.

That’s all there is to it.

Excel graph paper

These features allow Excel sheets to function as graph papers or grid papers by making them narrower column widths and cells square-sized. To fully utilize this feature, cell coupling is necessary.

This usage is called Excel graph paper in Japan, and in Japanese, it is pronounced ‘Excel Houganshi.’

In Japan, you can see such usage everywhere — municipalities, administration, education, and business.

If we were to define it as a bad usage, it should keep decreasing, but it hasn’t decreased at all. In fact, the number of observations continues to grow.

So, is it a good way to use it? I can’t say for sure.

This is because it deviates from the concept of calculating with tables.

In Japan, there are many statements that view Excel graph papers negatively. However, those messages are often on the web or social media. Some people even deny it with anger and see it as a problem.

However, quantitative research is not conducted from a scientific or business perspective regarding what is evil, and while it can sometimes be observed in society, the actual number is far less or far more than imagined, or even unknown.

Moreover, within the anger, it seems to be less about dissatisfaction with Excel and more about the individual person with low information literacy who creates such things.

I feel there is danger that such statements resonate with Google, become scientifically based, and become memes.

What exists here is simply a fact: just a spreadsheet.