To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > Travel April 11, 2000 URL: http://www.salon.com/travel/planet/2000/04/11/grandma Japanese firm developing tool to track stray grannies If all goes as planned at Mitsui & Co., satellites and cellular technology will soon be locating wandering seniors. - - - - - - - - - - - - By J.A. Getzlaff Johnny: "Mom! Grandma's missing again!" Mom: "Don't worry, dear, the satellite will find her." This is not a joke. According to Reuters, a Japanese company has come up with a new way to track down grandmas, grandpas and anyone else who forgets where he or she is supposed to be, by using a satellite-based global positioning system and cellular technology. The device, developed by a firm led by the Mitsui & Co. trading house, works like this: A transmitter is attached to a person's body or clothing. When that person goes missing, concerned relatives -- or the Japanese Foreign Ministry, CIA or KGB -- send in a request to find the wanderer. The transmitter beams the person's "coordinates" to a local server, and his or her location appears on a computerized map. Mitsui & Co. says it will test the device in Tokyo and Kikuchi City this year, and will launch it in 2001. A company spokesperson told Reuters, "We are definitely expecting a market to develop for the system." Sure, they'll start with grandmas. But where will it end? salon.com | April 11, 2000   - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer J.A. Getzlaff's Daily Planet appears every weekday. Do you have a tip or tale for J.A.? Send it to DailyPlanet@salon.com.