Japan looking to establish wireless island

Honestly, we're a bit freaked out right here in the US of A with all the RFID tags floating around in various forms, but Japan is planning to take tagging to the extreme by creating an island where there's just no escapin' it. The nation is looking to set up an "experimental landmass" where a smorgasbord of sensors will "allow doctors to remotely monitor the health of the elderly," and in another instance, "monitor the movement of pedestrians and notify nearby drivers." Additionally, IC tags could be implanted into produce in order to divulge information such as where it was grown to a shopper's mobile phone. Reportedly, the government is talking with local telecom carriers, electronics manufacturers, automakers, and several "other companies" as it attempts to assemble the pieces, and while no specific test site has been nailed down just yet, "the northern island of Hokkaido or southern island chain of Okinawa" are currently the most likely candidates.

[Via Textually]

[Je2037 @ May 15th 2007 1:41PM]

oh this poor world..

[cavein @ May 15th 2007 2:11PM]

if there's one people in the world that would accept big brother on this scale it's the japanese and in some strange way it is kind of refreshing(coming from a "freedom"-centric country as the US)

[McGinley @ May 15th 2007 3:18PM]

Does that mean that theyre gonna use Hokkaido in it's entirety as an "experimental landmass"?That'd be like implementing the entire island of Ireland as an experiment.

[kaztm @ May 15th 2007 5:10PM]

What is the news here? Your source just compiled known news into a piece.

I think that the Japanese are not (yet) really nervous about big brother, because their big brother is nothing compared to ours in the US.

First, they don't have intelligence agencies such as CIA or NSA, then in social life they don't even have credit bureaus like the ones here in the US. So their degree of fear (or maturity of understanding) big brother issues is not as high compared to us Americans.

[angelsvairwaves1 @ May 15th 2007 8:18PM]

that is a bad idea

[ron @ May 15th 2007 9:18PM]

My bet is that it's going to be Okinawa that is going to get "Tagged".
Not only is the island virtually a US military base but the Okinawans have been sold out by japan ever since the end of WW II.

It's not just a matter of researching the Tech. it's a matter of monitoring all the Okinawan citizens since they have quite a bit of anger over the random rapes, stolen land noise pollution and other abuses the US Military have committed there.
it's a nice test to be able to track and keep people under big brother control... ya think?

[Anonymous @ May 15th 2007 11:41PM]

The Japanese are getting older and older, and their birth rates are declining. They (smartly) are thinking of their elderly, and I salute them.

Try this in the US and I'd be pissed though.

[Scooter @ May 16th 2007 3:53AM]

the (often abused) concept of 'freedom' is not such an issue in Japan, where people live very public lives: due to crowding, it can be difficult to ever be truly alone. Thus the idea of being tracked or monitored is not as outlandish as it might seem.

[zoara @ May 16th 2007 7:24AM]

"...and furthermore, we solemnly promise that this information will not be made available to advertisers"

[Dave @ May 22nd 2007 10:54PM]

Sincererly doubt it would happen in Okinawa. That would require the government actually spending money on people down here in Okinawa, which it really doesn't like doing.

[AndrewNeo @ May 26th 2007 1:53PM]

Do these people not watch their own anime? Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, anyone?