Japan's already-safe streets could become even safer for children
| Tsukuba, Japan
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
The streets of Japan are some of the safest in the world for children as the country has one of the lowest crime rates. But that hasn鈥檛 stopped a Japanese research team from developing a powerful weapon to ward off would-be child predators.
At a day-care center in Ibaraki prefecture, a short trip from Tokyo, a team led by Seung-Hee Lee at the University of Tsukuba tested out a new child safety device last month. The gadget takes existing GPS child trackers to a whole different level. It not only locates a child, but it also reads the direction the child is facing as well as his heart rate. It has 鈥渆yes鈥� (a camera) and snaps a photo from the child鈥檚 viewpoint if a child鈥檚 heart rate, for example, gets unusually high. Parents can go to a secure, password-protected website to check photos and any other collected data.
鈥淭he devices were designed to be light, comfortable, durable, and look 鈥榗ool鈥� so the children wouldn鈥檛 mind wearing them,鈥� Ms. Lee says of the small colorful triangles worn strapped to the chest.
The trackers, which researchers say could be manufactured for about $600, are still a ways off from being ready for market. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to know where my children were and what they were up to, but many of the photos were out of focus,鈥� says Rikako Nakamura, whose children, ages 4 and 6, participated in the experiment. Lee said they were addressing such kinks.
