Programs are underway throughout the country to train ordinary people to use automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, to help heart attack victims.

A smartphone app that informs people who know CPR if someone nearby has gone into cardiac arrest was tested in Tokyo's Ueno Park in June. The free GPS-based program, called Heart Rescue, can be activated by the person having the heart attack or a witness.

Dr. Kensuke Igarashi said he developed the app to "efficiently connect people who have learned the resuscitation method to persons in need of help."