Good Goopas

[Mulboyne]

Kippo: 3 private railway companies to begin unique service

Three private railway companies in the Kansai district - Hankyu Railway, Keihan Electric Railway and Nose Electric Railway - began a monitoring test on September 1 for a unique service as part of their efforts to secure the safety of children. Using the fare settlement IC card 'PiTaPa,' the companies will send information by e-mails to parents when their children pass through ticket gates. The service is temporarily called 'Goopas.'...When registered children pass through ticket gates at stations nearest to their homes, and stations nearest to their schools or cram schools using 'PiTaPa' cards, the server put the...information will be sent by e-mails to mobile phones of their guardians in 20-30 seconds.

[gomichild]

Hmmm I see a market for suspicious wives here....

[Socratesabroad]

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Kyoto schools to track movements of students
It's 8 a.m. Do you know where your kids are? As of next spring, some parents of private school students in Kyoto may be able to receive e-mail messages telling them exactly that-where their children are as they commute to school every day. Ritsumeikan Primary School, a new facility scheduled to be opened in Kyoto's Kita Ward next spring, promises to offer a student commuting-route tracking system. The system uses integrated circuit (IC) cards to register students as they pass certain checkpoints. The smart card technology will not only register arrival at and departure from school, it will also issue e-mail messages to parents within 10 seconds of a child passing through the ticket gate at their train station...more...

[Mulboyne]

Docomo's new "Kids Keitai" with GPS and alarm/automatic calling.

Kyodo via Japan Today:

NTT DoCoMo on Thursday announced the development of a mobile phone filled with functions to keep kids safe. DoCoMo expects to put the new handset, the SA800i, on the market at an as yet undecided price next spring, a company spokesman said. Designed for easy use by children, the new third-generation mobile phone has an alarm of about 100 decibels kids can quickly switch on in the case of an emergency. If a child activates the alarm by pushing the designated switch or pulling a strap attached to it, the phone will call up to three registered numbers with a voice message alert at regular intervals until all registered numbers pick up, or until a password is entered into the handset, making it difficult for the criminal to turn off the alarm.