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Categories: Etc
Tags: japan, mobile phone, qr code, travel
Some of my friends must’ve been tired listening to my constant complaining about how slow it is for Australia to adopt QR Code usage. QR Code is what I believe to be the link between print media and the web. And contrary to popular belief, I think print media is not going to die anytime soon.
I spotted the first QR Code in Melbourne in July last year. Telstra has been campaigning the use of QR Code, mostly on their products and ads. There have been few magazines using QR Code to link to some pages on their own sites. I’m predicting that this technology will become much more mainstream in Australia within the next 2-3 years, providing steady adoption of smart phones with QR Code support.
During my trip to Japan few weeks ago, I was amazed to find out that QR Code was used everywhere (not literally _everywhere_ of course). I started taking pictures and videos of those QR Codes to the amusement of the locals, something that’s very common to them was very new to me.
Here’s a nice example. On one morning, I was walking to Ikebukuro Station via the underground pass, and I noticed a new Disney poster on the wall.
Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Stitch. Notice the eyes and noses of each character are still visible within the QR Codes.
And here’s the weird scene I witnessed in the evening…
I saw passers by stopping in front of the poster, scanning the codes using their mobile phones. It was so weird for me, but I’m sure, again, it’s very common to them. At that point, I wondered if I would see a similar scene in Melbourne within the next few years.
And a few more…
McDonald’s placed QR Codes on the soft drink cup, burger wrapper, and paper bag amongst other things.
Snack food packaging.
Visa on a passport.
Building guide.
T-shirt tag.
A poster at a mall. Ever thought that one day you would see a large garble of black and white dots just so you can scan it with your mobile phone?
On a magazine.
Ok, I’ll stop here, you’ve got the idea. The above pictures and video are only a few examples where QR Codes were used as links to web pages, but bear in mind that it can be used for many things other than for storing URLs, like nutritional info of a sandwich.
I’m excited to see more uses of QR Code in Australia. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll see one on a coffee cup at a cafe in Melbourne.
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I’m a mexican working in marketing, I trying to put qr codes in all our ads, is hard to explain, but easy to show, and the good thing is that the tech involved does’t cost. I hope to see ads with codes from us next month.
QR Code is nice barcode, if u have QR code to promote just visit my social networking for free to share your Qr code
Nice one – thanks for supporting the cause!
One thing that “QRcode hunters” sometimes miss in Japan is that it is already part of life, and does not enjoy the special attention we Gaijins give to it. In many cases you need to look hard to find it – in newspapers, behind supermarket cash slips – they are SO MUCH there, but they just don’t stick out so much…
Good to see the world slowly awaken to the possibilities of QR Codes!
We only got back last week from a week in Japan, spending time discussing this code with the engineers from the company who invented them, Denso Wave.
Even in Japan, they are only at the tip of what the QR Code is capable of and you will definitely see some amazing developments in this area in the not too distant future.
I’ve seen QR codes mainly on posters in the UK.
nice articles. can I copy your images? :D
Sure thing. The license for the images is Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/au/
We are implementing it within our business…our website and branches will display the corresponding qr codes
Now I know this blog is more than a year old and I feel behind the times having only discovered QR Codes a week ago but wanted to leave a comment here as thanks for the inside on the craze in Japan, where it all started. It’s a great write up.
why aren’t more of them in color ?
Patrick, QrArts
When QR codes first came out in Japan companies like DoCoMo had to teach the public how to use them
http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/docomo-tv-commercial-promoting-qr-codes/
Hello admin! This is very helpful posting thanks.
Hi,
a very simple way to put your QR code on every page in your website without any headache is following the instructions at this link: http://wikitools.ro?action=qr. Just use google translate if don’t understand.
It is a new and complete QR code generator.
Enjoy
That’s amazing. Japan is really ahead of the game isn’t it? I thought we had a lot in Australia, but once again Japan takes the cake.
hey mate, i was living in Melb last year and saw the same ads. I think most Aussie’s would have stared at the scrambled b/w square without knowing what to do with it…
and i’ve just moved to japan
some of the QR codes you have pictures of on items from Japan are used as actual barcodes for shipping etc.
but i totally agree. having just finished a career in large advertising agencies as a digital producer, i was continually trying to get SOMEONE to experiment, but i think telstra did it poorly…
Do you know how many percentages design QR codes actually increase the code scanning ratio?
http://d-qr.net/
Hi, I was wondering if you happen to have a large photo of your Disney QR code photo that I could use in a presentation. I was hoping to be able to scan each character. Thanks in advance!
I do have one stored in a disk somewhere at home, but unfortunately I’m at the airport atm and won’t be back until the 29th. The good news is that I’m going to Japan, hoping to capture more QR awesomeness.
Check out the free dynamic qr code generator at http://www.bwscan.com. Dynamic qr codes allow you to change links or info without changing the code. Free real-time analytics too.
Awesome ways to use QR Codes in unique ways. Check out what we are doing with them http://www.prontomm.com. Andy Lynn
We just launched new QR Code Generator and Tracking at http://qrcode.good-survey.com which allows:
* Creating all types of QR Codes
* We support also various vector formats (EPS, SVG, XAML, …) not only bitmaps (PNG, GIF, JPG, BMP,…)
* Decoding message from existing QR Codes
* Allow tracking of created codes (they can be associated to specific geolocation)
* We are providing strong API so you can create QR codes from your applications
* Mobile version (in Beta testing)
Indeed quite a few supposedly forward thinking nations have been slow to employ QR codes – but there’s not much point in businesses or marketing types plastering them everywhere if people haven’t got the technology to read them. This of course has all changed now. I am about the only person in my workplace without a smart phone.
The pictures you have taken have converted me into a pro-QR codes person -after seeing how they are used in Japan and how useful they can be I want to learn more about the possibilities for application. A great post.
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