Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
The Council for Science and Technology Policy, set up in the Cabinet Office has promoted "Ubiquitous Network - The Development of Electronic Tag Technology, etc. -" as one of the Collaboration Policies for Science and Technology. We have aimed at the establishment of the social infrastructure, advanced open integrated ubiquitous infrastructure toward the "realization of a Ubiquitous Networking Society that appeals to the World."
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)
The MIC has conducted the "Research and Development Project of Ubiquitous Platform Technology" since 2008 (this year). By using space codes that permit a precise positioning, we have been developing ubiquitous space-information technology infrastructure that allows us to offer information on the position of a user or a place at any time and anywhere. This is part of our endeavor to realize the ubiquitous networking society.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
The MEXT has conducted the 21st Century Center Of Excellence (COE) Program "Next generation ubiquitous information society infrastructure" at Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, the University of Tokyo, as part of our policy related to ubiquitous computing technologies since 2004.
This program aims at the establishment of interdisciplinary studies of technology, economy, and society as a whole with a wide scope. The ministry also developed the security technology in the ubiquitous computing environment in the "Secure Ubiquitous Computing Platform" project in the years 2005 to 2007.
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)
In the Information Grand Voyage Project "Field-Testing of Next Generation Information Retrieval/Analysis," development and feasibility study is performed for two themes, "e-Space" and "unique ID." For "e-Space", a database called "e-Space repository" to store and manage information about space in a unified manner is created using ucode, ucR (ucode Relation), and other technologies. The feasibility of a system that offers mobile-environment support information "only for now, only for here, and only for you" and triggers action of visitors is studied by building a real pilot system, e-Space service "Puratto Plat." For "unique ID", the feasibility of a system to streamline the payment process and make it more robust will be studied. This system will store transaction data as digital receipt inside IC cards or transaction record servers, and will prevent such counterfeit handling as fraud in expenditure payment and duplicate billing issues.
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
The MLIT has promoted "Free Mobility Assistance Project" since 2004. This project aims at offering information to support the movement of people in towns for everybody including the aged and the challenged. This year, in anticipation of a permanent service framework with the involvement of non-government parties, feasibility studies with the participation of both the local government and non-government entities have been performed in the five areas of Ginza, Takayama, Toyota, Kobe, and Nara.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)
Amid the ongoing globalization of the economy, the consumer needs for safe and fresh food products and environmental concerns have grown dramatically. To meet such needs and concerns and continue the stable supply of food, we need a long term strategy to tackle such issues as streamlining the labor-intensive distribution system of today. The MAFF intends to initiate a renovation of food distribution industry by introducing new technology such as electronic tags and business models based on such technology in the "Project for strengthening competitiveness of food Industry and streamlining food distribution."
