Regarding the May 30 article "University to use iPhones on truants": College students in Japan cannot be "truant" because college is not part of compulsory education. This is also the case for high school. Furthermore, the institution in question, Aoyama Gakuin University, is private, making the term "truant" even less applicable.
A recent directive from the Ministry of Education made it explicit that attendance is NOT to be used for evaluating or grading student performance in courses.
By extension, this means that attendance cannot be "a key requirement for graduation here."
earl h. kinmonth