Come next spring, your cell phone may tell you how runny your nose and how itchy your eyes will be the next day -- a warning of what might happen if you walk outside.
That's the vision that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. revealed on Monday, an early warning system for the one in 10 Japanese people suffering from cedar pollen allergies this season.
The nation's telecom giant announced that it has launched an experiment to network newly-developed pollen-counting laser measurement devices that have been set up in four NTT branches and one prefecture-run medical institution.
The network system automatically collects air every 30 minutes and counts the number of pollen particles with a laser measurement device that NTT developed.
Analyzing information on wind, weather, air pressure and other conditions, the new system will predict how much pollen will be flying around the city of Yamagata.
The collected data and forecast can be viewed on a Web site as well as with the i-mode cellular service, which allows users to access a range of information on the mobile phone's screen. The real-time data collection system marks a major advancement because most researchers now count pollen particles by eye on a microscope slide.
The experiment in Yamagata Prefecture will continue through June. After finishing the feasibility study, the company will consider expanding the service in cooperation with weather researchers and weather report companies, the NTT officials said.