RFID in Japan

In 2005, Japanese consumer electronics makers together established so-called Consumer Electronics RFID Consortium. Their aim is to develop usage models and international standards of RFID-based product life cycle management for consumer electronics devices.

@IT has this recent story on the consortium. One of the consortium's major goals is to improve the process of recycling. For example, refrigerators, which may or may not contain ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbon. By RFID tagging and tracking information about each individual refrigerator, one may easily figure out the right recycling method for it.

In this recycling scenario, however, RFID tags are not removed after purchase. Therefore, there would be much larger privacy concerns than supply-chain or storefront RFID scenarios. I'd think consumers may want to remove and/or kill the tags after purchase, and voluntarily reattach and/or reactivate the tags at the time of disposal.

In sum, privacy-aware recycling would be cool.

Ryounan Kindergarten in Kanagawa prefecture is experimentally using active RFID tags for taking attendance. All of the 230 kids (as well as the teachers) in the kindergarten carry active RFID tags that operate in the 300MHz band. .

At the kindergarden, kids come sometime between 8:30 and 9:30AM and some come with their parents and others by a school bus. So, it's been a bit complecated to track attendance manually. The active tags and the reader devices installed at the kindergarten's gates are used to automate the process of taking attendance.

Nikkei discusses -- the director of the kindergarten says "no teachers raised voices against this" because there is the benefit of making the [teachers'] tasks efficient even though it may be possible that some kindergarten staff are against making everyone always carry RFID tags.

via Nikkei RFID Technology

Two elementary schools in the city of Warabi, Saitama Prefecture are going to use active RFID tags (SPIDER tags) to track kids' whereabouts. 30 RFID readers are being installed near the school gate and on the way to/from the school. Parents can check their kids' whereabots for their peace of mind. The tags communication range is about 30 - 40 meters. There's a web portal site school teachers and kids' parents can access. The system was developed by NextCom and the netwok infrastructures are provided by Warabi Cable Vision.

via nikkei, june 26, 2006

Less than two weeks ago, NEC announced that they developed a system that combines rfid and surveillance camera. the system can continuously track people or vehicles. The system uses a camera and RFID in a complementary fashion. When a camera recognizes a moving entity, the system reads information from an RFID tag (carried by a person or a vehicle). Also, it uses RFID to track rough positions of moving entities when they cannot be detected by a camera. The system automatically switches between camera-based and RFID-based tracking.

The company plans to make the system available for uses at airports, train systems, electric power plants, corporate research labs, etc.

via nikkei sangyo shimbun, june 12, 2006

NTT Data unveiled the result of another pilot test of the system I Safety. I Safety uses RFID tags to track kids for their security and parents' peace of mind.

The following four services were tested from December till the end of March:

(1) Driver notification: In-car equipment reads RFID tags of nearby kids and alerts the driver saying "be careful, there are kids nearby" (this may be useful at intersections without good visibility).

(2) Alert: the RFID tags have a button kids can push and call security staff, volunteers (who live nearby or happen to be driving nearby).

(3) Spot notification: At key spots, like school gates, RFID readers are placed. when kids pass through the spots, SMS/email messages are sent to parents.

(4) Area search: search where kids are (and where kids were) using a web browser.

Service (1) sounds unique and NTT Data claims it helped drivers maintain attentiveness and it was useful for supporting safe driving.

via NTT Data news release

First time I heard about this project was about a year ago (see the entry "Vending Machines As Police Robots") and in May, a company called NAJ was installing vending machines with integrated surveillance cameras in Osaka (see the entry "Vending Machines with Surveillance Cameras to be tested").

On February 20, a major pilot test of these "vending machine robots" started at Chuou Elementary School in Osaka. It will last till March 20. The vending machines read RFID tags attached to kids' school bags, takes pictures, and send the pictures to the kids' parents. Also, if one presses a portable emergency button near a "vending machine robot," it makes a loud alarm sound and a red light flashes. Then, volunteers come and rescue her.

via Touou Nippou, Nishio Lab.

First time I heard about using RFID at a junior high school (rather than elementary or cram schools).

In December, Furuedai Junior High School in the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture introduced an RFID system. 160 of the 298 students at the school are wearing namebadges. Asahi.com article says it's not mandatory to wear RFID name badges. (Photo available on Asahi.com Osaka Edition)

The objective of this system is to make the school safe. If a person who doesn't have a legitimate RFID tag comes in through a school gate, the system notifies teachers and a surveillance camera starts recording the areas. It would be difficult to make this scheme work without making RFID name badges mandatory.

A student commented "I don't really like it 'cause I feel like I'm under surveillance but my parents will have peace of mind." And.. her mother hopes this system can stop bad guys coming into school. I think the student is quite keen. Perhaps this system is more about peace of mind than safety.

via slashdot.jp, Feb 13 (in japanese)

Japan's Internet guru Jun Murai published a kids' book on Internet in 2003, which includes a sample RFID tag. So, at some point, the publisher created this web page to address privacy concerns about the RFID tag. In addition to their effort to persuade consumers that it is safe, the web page includes a step-by-step instruction on how to foil a book using alminum foil and a scotch tape.