Latest news with #Hara
Newsweek
08-05-2025
- Newsweek
Street Dog Follows Tourists for Miles, but the Story Was 'Only Beginning'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Tourists biking through Morocco and the Sahara desert left with a new furry friend who followed them over 60 miles. Emily Lawson and a group of bikers embarked on a trip riding the length of Morocco. While biking their way through the Sahara desert, they noticed a dirty stray dog during one of their breaks. They greeted her with pets and scratches behind her giant eyes, but when they continued, the dog followed. The dog ran alongside them for about 30 miles before they stopped again. They felt horrible as they noticed she could barely walk and her paw pads were worn down, but being in the middle of nowhere with limited water, they knew they couldn't leave her again. Lawson shared in her March 2 Instagram video (@ how the dog, now named Hara, followed them and how they helped her by wrapping socks around her paws for extra protection as they continued the journey with her in tow. The stray dog quickly became their shadow. This left them with a difficult decision: what to do with this dog? But as they quickly fell in love with Hara, they knew her story was "only beginning." She would soon have a new forever home in a new country. Part of the caption reads: "Hara followed us not knowingly for food, water, shelter or health. She was the definition of a man's best friend. Or maybe she just likes bikes." Screenshots from a March 2 Instagram video of a stray dog following a group of bikers over 60 miles in Morocco. Screenshots from a March 2 Instagram video of a stray dog following a group of bikers over 60 miles in Morocco. @ "We found her at the start of November, and actually only spent a week with her before we took her to a refuge in Agadir and finished our bike trip," Lawson told Newsweek via Instagram. They planned on finding her a home, but as Lawson noted in the caption, Morocco is home to 3 million stray dogs, and canines are not commonly kept as household pets. This gave them a nearly impossible task to find an adopter in the country. But Lawson stepped up and decided Hara's home was with her. For four months, Hara needed to stay in Morocco to clear rabies and bloodwork testing. Lawson returned at the beginning of April to pick her up and brought her back to the United Kingdom. "She's doing so well - honestly amazes us every day with how happily she's adjusting," she said. The Instagram video, which amassed over 1 million views, touched people's hearts. They applauded her for stepping up and saving Hara, who desperately wanted human love. "Being chosen by a dog is the most rewarding feeling. Congratulations on your forever pup," said one viewer. Another added: "Congratulations human, she has now adopted you!" A third joked: "Umm if a dog follows me 200 feet I'm taking them home so." She replied that she named Hara within the first two minutes of meeting her. Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
India.com
29-04-2025
- India.com
Meet man, the genius who created QR Code that is now used in UPI payments, his name is..., he is from...
Today, QR codes are everywhere — whether it's scanning a restaurant menu, making digital payments, boarding a plane, or verifying a product's authenticity. These small black-and-white squares have made accessing information and completing tasks faster and more convenient. While they may seem simple, the story behind their invention is truly remarkable. It all began with a brilliant engineer named Masahiro Hara. Masahiro Hara, a Japanese engineer, is the person who invented the QR code. His innovation has changed not just how businesses work but also how people interact with technology all around the world. Hara was born in Tokyo in 1957. As a child, he loved solving puzzles and was always curious about how things worked. He later studied at the Tokyo University of Science, one of Japan's top universities, where he sharpened his skills in engineering and technology. After finishing his education, Hara started working at Denso Corporation, a major manufacturer of car parts and a part of the Toyota Group. There, he worked on developing barcode scanning systems to make car manufacturing more efficient. However, traditional barcodes had their problems i.e. they could hold only a small amount of information and needed to be lined up just right for scanners to read them. Outside of his work, Hara is a family man. He is married and has children, although he prefers to keep his personal life private. Even today, he remains interested in how QR codes are being used in new ways, such as for cashless payments and fighting fake products. How the QR code was born Masahiro Hara realized there had to be a better way to store and scan more information than what traditional barcodes allowed. Barcodes could only hold limited data and had to be scanned in a specific direction. So, Hara set out to create something new. He got inspiration from a classic Japanese board game called 'Go,' which uses black and white pieces placed on a square grid. This gave him the idea for a two-dimensional code that could be scanned from any angle. After months of hard work with his team at Denso, Hara created the QR code in 1994. Unlike standard barcodes, QR codes could hold much more information — even letters and numbers — and could be scanned instantly from any direction. It was a breakthrough technology. Originally, QR codes were meant for tracking car parts in factories. But soon, people found many other ways to use them in shopping, hospitals, transport, movies, and more. What helped QR codes spread even faster was that Denso Wave, the company behind it, didn't charge anyone to use it. They chose not to patent the QR code, so developers and businesses around the world could use it for free and make their own versions. Even though it became one of the most widely used tools in the world, Hara and his team never made money from the invention as they simply wanted it to be useful for everyone.
India Today
28-04-2025
- Business
- India Today
How a Japanese carmaker created QR codes that changed payments, travel and more
In today's fast-paced world, QR codes have become a near-ubiquitous part of everyday life. Whether it's scanning a restaurant menu, making digital payments, boarding a flight, or verifying products for authenticity, QR (Quick Response) codes have made transactions and access to information faster and small, square patterns of black-and-white modules may seem like a simple invention, but behind their creation lies an extraordinary story -- and an extraordinary man: Masahiro BEHIND QR CODES Masahiro Hara, the Japanese engineer who invented the QR code, transformed not just the way businesses operate, but also how people interact with technology globally. Born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1957, Hara was always a curious mind, fascinated by puzzles and pursued his education at the Tokyo University of Science, one of Japan's most esteemed institutions, where he honed his skills in engineering and information CAREER AT DENSO CORPORATIONAfter completing his studies, Hara joined Denso Corporation, a leading automotive components manufacturer and a member of the Toyota Group. At Denso, Hara initially worked in product development and was involved in creating barcode scanning systems to streamline automotive manufacturing barcodes were effective, they had significant limitations -- they could store only a small amount of data and required precise alignment for OF THE QR CODE advertisementRealising the need for a more efficient system that could hold larger volumes of information and be scanned from any angle, Hara set out to innovate. Inspired by the principles of playing "Go," a traditional Japanese board game involving black-and-white stones placed on a square grid, Hara devised the concept of a two-dimensional code. Fireman's coat (19th century) decorated with a spider hovering over an abadoned Go board (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) In 1994, after months of hard work and collaboration with his team at Denso, Hara developed the QR traditional barcodes, QR codes could store hundreds of times more data, including alphanumeric characters, and could be scanned swiftly from any direction -- a true ADOPTION AND APPLICATIONS Initially intended for tracking automotive parts, QR codes quickly found applications across industries worldwide, from retail and healthcare to entertainment and transportation. The technology's open patent policy further accelerated its global adoption, allowing businesses and developers to use it freely without licencing inventing one of the world's most widely used technologies, Masahiro Hara and Denso Wave chose not to patent the QR code, allowing it to be freely used and adapted globally. This decision greatly accelerated its adoption and QR codes were primarily used within factories for inventory management and logistics, and it was only in the early 2000s-with the rise of smartphones-that they began appearing in public-facing applications and gained widespread PERSONAL LIFE Hara is married and has children, though he has kept much of his private life away from the limelight. Even in recent years, he has shown keen interest in the evolving applications of QR codes, including their use in contactless payments and combating counterfeit every time we scan a QR code, whether to make a payment, download an app, or access exclusive content, we owe a silent thanks to Masahiro Hara -- the visionary who revolutionised the way the world connects information with action.
Indian Express
27-04-2025
- Indian Express
QR codes: How a Japanese engineer's invention changed the world
When you enter a restaurant and ask for the menu, chances are you are told to scan a QR code with your phone to view and order food and drinks – no paper menu needed. Similarly, many people now scan a QR code daily to buy fish and vegetables from a local shop. Since the pandemic, QR codes have popped up everywhere: on payment apps, coconut water carts, and even billboards. They have become a signature of our digital lives, especially in India. But have you ever wondered where this pixelated black-and-white square comes from? Masahiro was inspired by the board game Go and invented the black-and-white data square now used by millions of people every day. (Image credit: Desno Wave) The story starts in Japan. It was 1994 and Masahiro Hara, who was working at Denso Wave, a Toyota car-parts subsidiary, got the idea to create the QR code. Hara, a lead in automobile manufacturing, was playing the ancient strategy game Go at work when he noticed the arrangement of the black and white stones on the board. The concept of placing black and white dots on a grid sparked the idea behind the QR Code, which stands for 'Quick Response Code'. Before QR codes In the early 1990s, barcode scanning wasn't new – it was already being used in Japan and other parts of the world. Barcode technology was first patented in 1949 by Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver. Their patent described the basic structure of using pairs of lines to represent numbers – a method still used today. Interestingly, the first barcode didn't include vertical lines at all; instead, it used a series of concentric circles. Barcodes had been used to track parts, but the system was inefficient. (Image credit: Denso Wave) Woodland and Silver initially struggled to get companies interested in their invention. But that changed in the 1960s, when engineer and physicist Theodore H Maiman built the first working laser, making it possible to quickly decode a barcode's line patterns. The first official barcodes soon began to be adopted in some industries. However, a major issue emerged: different stores in the US launched barcode pilot projects using vastly different types of barcode symbols. By the late 1960s, grocery stores across the US were facing challenges such as rising labour costs and difficulties in tracking inventory. Barcodes were seen as the ideal solution to automate the process – but only if everyone in the industry agreed to use the same symbol. To address this, the industry formed an ad hoc committee in the early 1970s to develop a workable barcode system. This committee created the Universal Product Code (UPC), which was designed to be compatible with different types of barcode symbols. Hara and his team basically transformed a one-dimensional barcode into a compact, two-dimensional grid that could be read swiftly — QR stands for 'quick response.' (Image credit: Denso Wave) The committee then had to choose a standard symbol. They invited submissions from various companies, narrowed the list down to seven finalists, and after three years of deliberation, chose IBM 's design. The IBM symbol has become synonymous with the word 'barcode'. It became the industry standard, and the very first UPC barcode was scanned at a grocery store in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974. Limitations of barcodes Hara knew the standard UPC barcode was far from perfect and had several limitations. These barcodes were one-dimensional, encoding information horizontally through the width and spacing of vertical lines. One major issue was that if part of the barcode was torn or damaged, the machine couldn't read it. Another limitation was that each barcode could hold only about 20 characters of data. The credit of revival of QR codes goes to China. At that time in Japan, the automotive industry was going through a transitional phase. Hara had been receiving requests from field workers to develop a better way to scan inventories. A single box of components often carried as many as 10 barcodes that had to be scanned individually. There was a clear need for a less labour-intensive method to store more information. Hara wanted to change that. He and his team set out to solve the problem by creating a 'better barcode' that could efficiently track automobiles and auto parts during manufacturing. Hara eventually came up with the concept of the QR code, which could decode up to 10 times faster than its predecessors and store approximately 7,000 characters. He developed a two-dimensional barcode in the shape of a square, which addressed the issue of limited data capacity. However, Hara faced early challenges with the new 2D barcode design. When barcodes were printed alongside other text, scanning machines often failed to detect them, making the square barcodes impractical. One day, while looking out a subway window on his way to work, Hara noticed how skyscrapers stood out distinctly from the surrounding landscape. This observation helped him find out a way to make square barcodes visually stand out from text. After a lot of iterations, he came up with the idea of embedding three small squares – each with a specific black-to-white ratio – at the corners of the barcode. This design worked, and scanners could recognise and read the code, regardless of its orientation. Not only that, the QR code designed by Hara could still be read even if it was smudged or partially damaged. ISO certification Part of the reason why QR technology worked so well was that its two-dimensional design allowed more data to be accessed by optical scanners at any given time. The code could also be scanned from a variety of angles and distances. This was especially useful on assembly lines and worked well for machine parts – many of which had unique and different shapes. A QR code is characterised by a two-dimensional pattern of square black and white dots. (Image credit: Denso Wave) Since Hara worked for a car components manufacturer, the QR code was originally designed with the automobile industry in mind. Japan's leading carmaker, Toyota, showed interest in Hara's QR code and adopted it in its factories – a testament to the technology's potential and its ability to improve efficiency in the manufacturing process. But it was the beginning of something much bigger. Not even Hara could have predicted that his invention would not only transform industries but also create entirely new segments and markets. QR codes began to be widely adopted when Hara's employer, Denso Wave, made the technology freely available to the public without charging licensing fees, despite holding the patents. A new wave of adoption began when the QR code received ISO certification in Japan in 2000, and the technology started to find its way into everyday life. New lease of life By 2012, many began to question whether QR technology was dead or still had life left. Businesses weren't using QR codes as widely as initially projected. In fact, QR codes were even called 'dead'. However, in China, the QR code found a new lease of life, thanks to the smartphone boom that had begun in the country. QR codes started to be used for making mobile payments, accessing key services, claiming discounts, and enabling entirely new apps and services to be built. WeChat is a prime example of how the app utilised QR codes and created new services and features around them. One of the major advantages of the QR code is their vast data storage capabilities. (Image credit: NPCI) As smartphones gained popularity, businesses found new ways to take advantage of the phone's cameras, making the QR code an underlying technology behind many popular and mainstream apps and services. What had been successfully implemented in China in the early 2010s was then introduced elsewhere, including in India, during the height of the pandemic. Local businesses began to adopt QR codes, allowing users to simply scan them with their phone camera to access a new service or website. However, what many hadn't anticipated in India was how QR codes could introduce digital payments to over a billion people. Story continues below this ad UPI revolution With the launch of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an infrastructure created by the country's top payments processor, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), mobile apps built on the UPI infrastructure could securely access multiple bank accounts and merge services such as making digital payments and peer-to-peer money transfers in real time. Today, UPI is one of the most dominant methods of digital payment in India. UPI transactions hit Rs 24.77 trillion in value and 19.78 billion in volume in March 2025, showcasing how cashless payments using QR codes have caught on in India. India is taking a lead in cash-less payments, thanks to UPI. Yes, QR codes are everywhere, but ironically, Japan – where the QR code was invented – has been left behind. In Japan, cash is still king, and the country is still warming up to the idea of cashless payments and QR codes. Consumers and businesses are reluctant to change, even as other countries are already on the path to becoming cashless societies. However, Covid-19 led to a push toward contactless solutions, including QR codes in Japan. The government also began promoting cashless initiatives by offering incentives to businesses and consumers.
Japan Times
03-04-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
14 years on: Teen from Tokyo begins fishing career in Fukushima
Teruki Hara, a 17-year-old fisherman, has set himself apart from his peers by relocating from Tokyo to Soma, a coastal city in Fukushima Prefecture, to begin on-the-job training. Despite lingering concerns over unfounded rumors about the safety of food from the region following the March 2011 nuclear disaster, Hara remains committed to Fukushima Prefecture, where he initially discovered his love for fishing as a child. Hara first aspired to become a fisherman after an acquaintance of his father introduced him to the joys of fishing during a visit to Fukushima Prefecture when he was in elementary school. "Since I learned (about fishing) in Fukushima, I definitely wanted to pursue it in Fukushima," Hara recalled. To support his son's dream, Hara's father reached out to Kazuyasu Takahashi, a 46-year-old fisherman in Soma whom he had connected with through social media. During his junior high school years, the younger Hara began joining Takahashi on his boat to gain hands-on fishing experience. In the spring of 2023, immediately after graduating from junior high school, Hara became Takahashi's apprentice and has since been training while staying at Takahashi's home. According to the Fukushima Prefectural Government, 26 people joined the coastal fishing industry in the prefecture in fiscal 2023, marking the highest annual figure in a decade. The increase is believed to stem from growing expectations for the industry's revival, 14 years after the nuclear meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' (Tepco) Fukushima No. 1 plant. The region is currently in a transition phase toward full-scale operations, following the end of trial fishing in March 2021. Takahashi noted that Hara is a rare case of someone from outside Fukushima Prefecture joining the local fishing industry. "Honestly, I'm pleased. This is a positive development for the region, and moving forward, we should be more open (to newcomers)," he said, expressing high hopes for the future. The prefecture's catch volume has yet to recover to levels before March 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck, leading to the nuclear disaster. In September 2023, just months after Hara began his career as a fisherman, Tepco started releasing treated radioactive water from the damaged nuclear plant into the ocean. Hara acknowledged concerns over reputational damage caused by unfounded rumors. "I've heard that it's all right, but I can't help worrying if that's really the case," he said. Despite his concerns, Hara remains optimistic about the future. "I was able to become a fisherman because of people like Takahashi," he said. "I know there will be challenges ahead, but I'm determined to overcome them and continue learning." Takahashi, smiling, nodded and responded with an emphatic "Great."
