Japanese barcodes

The original barcode was invented in America. But the technology was improved in Japan.

For example…do they use the “Quick Response (QR) Barcode” in your country?

QR Code for "Wikipedia Japan" website's URL

The QR Barcode was invented in Japan and it can be read by cell-phones in Japan.
If you use your (Japanese) cell-phone to scan the code, you can access the website without typing the URL manually.

Can cell-phones in your country do this? Or is this used in Japan only? (The only cell-phones I’ve ever used were my phones here in Japan).

And also the “regular” barcode that is found on all sorts of consumer products has been improved by a Japanese company.

They proved that the barcode doesn’t have to be limited to the simple straight lines and numerals design that we’re all used to.

Here are a few examples of their work:

World’s Tallest Tower

Until yesterday the Taipei 101 tower was the tallest building in the world. It stands 509 meters (1,670 feet) high.

The "Taipei 101" (509 meters tall)

Next year, the 「東京スカイツリー」 (Tokyo Sky Tree) tower is scheduled to be completed and will stand 634 meters (2,080 feet) tall which would make it the world’s tallest tower.

The "Tokyo Sky Tree" will stand 634 meters high.

Click here to read a post that I wrote about the 「東京スカイツリー」 (Tokyo Sky Tree)…and click here to see another post with some photos I took of the construction of the tower.

But now the 「東京スカイツリー」 (Tokyo Sky Tree) will be the world’s second tallest tower, because the “Burj Khalifa” tower officially opened yesterday (2010 January 4) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The “Burj Khalifa” tower stands at an amazing 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall! Which makes it not only the world’s tallest tower, but it’s the tallest man-made structure in the world!

The "Burj Khalifa" tower stands at 828 meters tall.