Japan tags senior citizens with scan-able barcodes to tackle their problem of elderly people ‘gone missing’

It likely seems Orwellian to most Americans, but apparently some Japanese are okay with it: One city in the Asian nation has launched a unique program to help keep track of senior citizens who have a tendency to become lost…tagging their fingers and toes with scan-able barcodes.

As reported by Agence France Presse, a firm based in Iruma, located north of Tokyo, developed minute nail stickers, each one carrying a unique identifier that helps concerned families locate missing loved ones, according to the city’s social welfare office.

The QR-coded, adhesive seals for nails, which are part of a free service that has only recently been launched—and is a first in Japan—measure only one centimeter (0.4 inches) in size. “Being able to attach the seals on nails is a great advantage,” one city employee told AFP. “There are already ID stickers for clothes or shoes but dementia patients are not always wearing those items.”

If authorities find an elderly person wandering about, they will contact the local city hall, its telephone number and the wearer’s identification all placed within the QR code. The chips stay attached for about two weeks, even if they get wet, according to the company, citing recent field trials.

As Japan’s society grows older, governments face unique probless with dementia and other age-related health problems

In November, Japanese police started providing noodle discounts at local restaurants for elderly citizens who voluntarily agreed to give up their driver licenses. That offer was the result of a series of deadly accidents involving elderly drivers; it’s a huge problem because there are 4.8 million people 75 years old or older who hold driver’s licenses.

Japan is struggling with a rapidly aging population. Demographers believe that by 2060, an astounding 40 percent of Japanese will be over the age of 65, as the country’s birth rate slips to about 1.41 children per woman.

As reported by the Japan Times, experts have described Japan’s birth rate situation as “catastrophic” because its society is aging as sexless couples are having fewer and fewer children. At present, in fact, the birth rate is below the death rate, meaning Japan’s population is slowly dying off. That said, the figures don’t tell the full story; in fact, demographers say that the situation is reversing itself, the Times noted.

As for the tracking device, that is an idea that seems like an innocent solution to what appears to be a mounting problem in Japan. And it could just be an idea that only works in certain societies. But rest assured, the globalist ruling cabal likes authoritarian rule, and would love nothing more than to be able to track every human being on the planet.

There are those who would love to track every human on the planet

In fact, that’s very nearly the case as it is, and we have done it to ourselves willingly, with technology. Our cellphones serve as miniature tracking devices. Automobiles equipped with satellite-fed features—radio, emergency contact systems, remote start/shut-down systems—also serve to track us wherever we go.

Then there are devices for the home that essentially keep track of us; virtually everything that is connected to the Internet or is satellite-linked. Even our “smart” electrical power meters are treasure troves of data that can indicate when we are at home, establish patterns of behavior and so forth.

Some societies—dictatorships, communist countries, and even some socialist-leaning nations in the European Union—would either have little choice or may voluntarily agree to allowing themselves to be tracked by the government 24/7/365. That wouldn’t work so well in the United States, however, with our constitutional privacy protections, though clearly there are even those in our own country who would love to circumvent those protections or have them overturned.

Sources:

Yahoo.com

JapanTimes.com

FreeBeacon.com