Retail in Asia

In Trends

Sony offers tracking chip for seniors in Japan

Sony Corp. will offer a service to track the elderly at a time when Japan is grappling with revelations that hundreds of its oldest citizens are unaccounted for.

Izumi Hisatomi, a spokeswoman at Sony subsidiary FeliCa Pocket Marketing, said that the service – to be introduced next month – will track people via integrated-circuit cards that can be scanned at readers installed at hospitals, homes and shops. Registered family members and guardians will pay JPY300 (USD 3.55) a month to receive an e-mail providing the time and location of the user each time the card is swiped.