Tech debt exists in constitutional law as well.
* The need to keep the Executive and Legislative Branches separate.
* The need to represent States in a manner they already agree with, for sake of brevity.
Thus the Electoral College: Composed in the same way as Congress is (plus pretending D.C. is a state) whose sole task is electing the head of the Executive Branch as representatives of the States thereof.
Japan (and Germany? I don't know enough about German politics) is based on the UK's Westminster system, which has its own pros and cons and isn't necessarily better.
We don’t need the College to weight the vote toward states without people in them, if that’s what we want to do. Even if we accept that that’s a good goal, the College is not a good way to do it.
Remember, the US is a federation of sovereign States and POTUS as Chief Executive of the Federal government represents and is chosen by the States thereof. Each State represents its citizens respectively.
The reason the College gives more weight to less populous States is, again, the need to represent States at the federal level in a way they already agree with but separated from the Legislature. So each State gets 2 Electors plus at least 1 Elector according to their population, representing the Senators and Representatives they would have in Congress. Remember that the Senate gives equal representation to all States regardless of population; California and Rhode Island each have the same representation in the Senate.
Part of the reason Japan doesn't have an Electoral College is because they aren't as concerned about separating the Executive and Legislative Branches and they aren't a federation of sovereign States.
The only reason we maintain it now is because it is both too hard to change and also perceived (correctly or incorrectly) to give an advantage to one of the two major parties in our political system, which effectively kills their support.
