National / Social Issues Oct 15, 2017
How Japan's service industry is trying to adapt to the worst labor crunch in 25 years
by Shusuke Murai
Before Hisashi Kanbe in 2013 introduced BakeryScan, the world's first image recognition checkout system designed specifically for bread, it was the job of every bakery worker in Japan to memorize the assorted prices of each baked good — from baguettes back to bagels. Unlike shrink-wrapped ...