Sensing the human: biometric surveillance and the Japanese technology industry

Abstract

This article examines the Japanese biometrics industry and its discourse, with a focus on the language of biometric ‘sensing’ that has shaped its development over the past two decades. Rooted in the ubiquitous computing boom of the early 2000s, the language of sensing reimagines biometric technology as a mediator between the digital and the human, laying the foundation for biometric surveillance’s expansion into everyday settings such as retail ones. In these newer settings, biometric surveillance is promoted as a means for collecting data on human affect and behavior to be used for marketing and other applications. I argue that this growing ambiguity of biometric surveillance re-articulates a convergence between production and consumption, while it also informs safe society discourses and the shifting role of embodiment within digital culture.