Not many would know this, but, interestingly, Japan's capital Tokyo has got
no street names. Collectively, the Japanese and bewildered visitors have spent
decades lost in Tokyo's labyrinthine arteries-most, literally, without a name,
reports The Guardian.
But rather than just name the streets and number the buildings, the locals
had a uniquely Japanese answer to the problem: fax maps and directions to
visitors.
Alas, Tokyo's complex subway still remains a challenge even to residents. But
all this will soon be a thing of the past as the Tokyo University has undertaken
a project making it world's first truly public ubiquitous computer network.
Heading the project is Tokyo University professor Ken Sakamura, with the aid
of the Japanese government. It's 'an infrastructure for the 21st century', he
says, adding that it will see our everyday landscape guide us, inform us and
generally hold our hand in an increasingly puzzling world.
With this system the user is in complete control. "We seek only to chip or
tag objects and the environment, never people. With this system you can choose
to read whichever you wish. The ubiquitous communicator-the pocket device you
use to read the information around you-can only read and write, which means your
identity is protected," he says.
Working with Sakamura's outfit and Japan's top technology companies such as
Hitachi, the country's Information Ministry has just spent ¥1 bn (£4.2 mn) on a
month-long field trial that covered several blocks of the famous Ginza shopping
district.
The pilot scheme used a variety of electronic tags that can transmit
information. The Ginza trial also highlighted some of the technical and security
issues that have yet to be dealt with. Teething problems included
cross-interference from illegal radio transmitters, as well as difficulties
using the rather bulky prototype reader. "In the future the job of the reader
will be done by your mobile phone, using a remote server," Sakamura says.