We are starting a shadowrun 4e group in a few weeks, while I just finished watching the entire line of Ghost in the Shell (movies, series, everything).
Now, technology isn't spread evenly among social castes, but it isn't spread evenly among nations either. In today's japan cellular technology tends to be much more advanced and prevalent than elsewhere.
Is it possible that a certain state has a higher standard of technology than other states ?
Suppose, much like the Ghost in the Shell protagonist, you are a child injured badly in an accident. In the UCAS, this pretty much means you're dead.
Is it possible that in Japan (or a specific corp, or whatever), you'll get better treatment, offers for "free" cyber-prosthetics, just because that's the standard there ?
Maybe japanese corps manufacture advanced tech only for the local market, incompatible with foreign tech (which may be highly lucrative because of local customs) ?

Or maybe Neo-Tokyo has exactly the same feel as Seattle, with the same types of blocks, the same technology ?

This is mainly a role-playing thing, with little effect on game mechanics, but I would like to hear some veteran player's opinion. I may be too biased by all the anime to understand the game world.

You're absolutely correct that the benefits of technology are not spread evenly.

However, I disagree a child in the UCAS won't have access to prostethics. It depends on if that child has corp parents or not. Corporations take care of their own - especially since it indebts the parents (not to mention the child) to the corp. The price of a bit of healthcare is cheap compared to everlasting loyalty and devotion.

If you want to stay independant and don'T work for a corp, than you got to shell out the money yourself - how you're fucked. But if you're sort of doing ok, you can get a second0hand cyberarm or whatever for pretty cheap these days. You'll just have a kid with a cyberarm that is too big or too small or whatever, making the kid look like a freak.

The technological divide isn't so much per country anymore, it's per corporation. But that's not to deny culture view towards technology is the same everywhere - Japan IS much more technological in that sense.

Yes, you're right. If you're in the NAN, most places aren't going to be comparable to Seattle, for instance. International trade and megacorps means that, almost always, a given item is available just about anywhere, just that the prices are going to be much higher (or lower) in some places as opposed to others. If you're in the middle of the Sahara, you probably could get access to a delta clinic, it's just going to require a lot more cash to get you to it.

These prices are written down in, I believe, Living in the Shadows?