Following a series of incidents in which children were left inside buses outside kindergartens and preschools, various devices are in development to help prevent similar cases in future.
The transport ministry released guidelines in December regarding the required specifications for such devices, with a number of educational and daycare organizations quickly adopting the measures in order to increase safety on their buses.
In February, a trial of a system for detecting children left behind on buses was conducted at a kindergarten affiliated with Bukkyo University in the city of Kyoto.