RFIDs and Sushi in Tokyo (Sushi Restaurant Uses RFID Tags, and MILLIONS DIE! Not.)

ITU Strategy and Policy Unit Newslog ^ | November 25, 2003

[Timesink]

RFIDs and Sushi in Tokyo

RFID tags are also making their appearance in food establishments. Pintokona, a Sushi restaurant in a trendy new part of Tokyo, Roppongi Hills, has introduced RFID tags to track and price their plates of sushi that are presented on a rotating belt in front of customers. The system facilitates the calculation of the bill, as each tag contains information such as price, sushi type, chef, time stamp and other information. As readers can track the precise time when the sushi is placed on the plates, once a thirty-minute period has expired, the sushi is automatically removed from the rotating belt, in order to ensure that only the freshest pieces are made available.

The use of RFIDs in Japan will be discussed in more detail in a soon-to-be released Japan case study (Download a sneak preview [PDF] of the case study)  for the upcoming ITU workshop on Shaping the Future Mobile Information Society.

[Timesink]

Amazingly, Japanese society has not collapsed as a result of RFID sushi tracking. </sarcasm>

[sushiman]

This is great ! I'll have to check this place out next time I am in Tokyo .

[river rat]

A little off topic .....but I would NEVER laugh at or doubt decisions made by the Japanese food service industry...

In all the years I've spent abroad, and especially in the far east --- there is NO country where the safety, beauty, freshness and taste of food is as reliable as in Japan...

You will see business executives in expensive suits, willing to set on plastic beer crates in the middle of a busy sidewalk and DEVOUR some street peddler's "unique" specialty..

We LOVED to walk into the tiniest restaurants in the tiniest villages and simply eat the "house specialty"..one of the many delicious meals we discovered this way, was barbecued eel (Unagi) layered within a large bowl of rich sauce saturated rice......WONDERFUL!

Semper Fi

[Ronin]

I love Japan and have lived here for 17 years, but sushi tastes like raw fish to me.

[RightWingAtheist]

Mmmmm...I love sushi, the fresher, the better! I get nostalgic thinking of the "sushi conveyor belt" because that's how it was served at the sushi bar next to my hotel in Hawaii, when I went there two years ago. Too bad I can't find mahi mahi nigri elsewhere..

[RightWingAtheist]

Unagi's my favorite too. I had something like 10-12 pieces of it at the Toda Japanese buffett in Las Vegas.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I'd like a big bowl of conch soup...

[sushiman]

" I love Japan and have lived here for 17 years "

I've been here for 18 ( since Sept. 1985 ) ! Where you be ?

[Ronin]

Tokyo. I think we have talked before.

[river rat]

I've tried several pretty nice Japanese restaurants to find a good barbecue Unagi in rice bowl dish.....

But-- it is NOT the same..
In Japan - they kill and prepare the eel "real time"...less than a hour before serving...
FRESH...

Semper Fi

[sushiman]

Tokyo , huh . I lived in the area from 1985-1995 . Ever hear a gaijin band by the name of HOTEL NOTELL ? We used to play the Crocodile , Jirokichi ( Koenji ) , American Embassy parties inc. July 4th , etc ...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Do you ever get to Yokohama ? We used to live in the Sannotani area, south of the Area 1 military dependents housing area, near the Bluffs...

[cajun-jack]

sushi = bait

[sushiman]

" Do you ever get to Yokohama ? We used to live in the Sannotani area, south of the Area 1 military dependents housing area, near the Bluffs..."

I was in Yokohama this past September seeing a friend . How long has it been since you've live there ?

[sushiman]

BTW , I live in Kyuhsu now , hours away by jet !

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We lived in Sagamihara in the early 1950s, then 1954-1961 at # 91 Sannotani, across the street from the Area 2 military dependents housing area on Avenue D, Yokohama. Dad worked for the Japan Procurement Agency, a US Army/State Department outfit that bought stuff for the Army and Air Force in the Far East.
He played a small role in helping a struggling Japanese auto maker to survive. Represaentatives of Isuzu approached the agency asking to build something--anything mechanical to keep their doors open. My dad brought in a new, 1949 Dodge Duce and a half Army truck from Detroit and Isuzu was told that if they could build them, the Army would buy them.
Isuzu copied the Dodge perfectly, right down to the tool kit and made copies into the early 1970s. While most of the production went to S. Korea, Japanese-made Dodges were sent to S. Viet Nam.

[sushiman]

Coincidentally , I lived in Sagamihara for the first 8 months I was in Japan, with a buddy who'd been discharged ( honorably ) from the Navy . Even in 1985 , the neighborhood kids would point at me when walking down the street and say " gaijin " ! Nowadays they don't even notice you .

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Camp Zama or YED ?

[sushiman]

>Camp Zama or YED ?

YED ?

S

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Yokohama Engineering Depot in Sagami. My dad was there for a bit before the move to the procurement agency in Tokyo. His official designation was "mechanical parts inspector."
Later he helped buy steel, wood products, paper and some other items from mostly Japanese and Korean firms. We also got to visit Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. Dad had a friend who knew the Lao royals and we thought we might move to Laos or Thailand to be in the paper mill business. My mom and I took French language courses in anticipation of this move but we moved back Stateside in '61.