Aichi High School Students Learn from QR Code Inventor

The Yomiuri Shimbun

11:50 JST, July 26, 2023

HANDA, Aichi — Students at Handa Senior High School in the city of Handa, Aichi Prefecture, recently had the opportunity to learn how the QR code, short for Quick Response code, was developed.

Masahiro Hara, who led the team at Denso Wave Inc. that invented the QR code, gave a talk to 320 first-year students on “The Story of the Invention of the World-Changing QR Code.” The 65-year-old engineer described the joy of the research and development process.

Denso Wave is headquartered in the town of Agui, next to Handa, and many students seemed surprised to discover that the QR code’s research and development is done so close to them.

Hara explained the history of QR code development. He said advances such as the code’s miniaturization and encryption over the past 30 years were achieved as a result of user perspectives. Hara and other Denso Wave employees joined students’ group discussions and gave advice.

Hara encouraged students to engage in research with curiosity and belief in its significance. Students expressed their appreciation about the opportunity.

“I’m glad I could hear concrete experiences from someone at a company familiar to us,” said Soki Sakakibara, 15.