RFID tags had been mainly used in Japan at long frequencies of 135 KHz or less, at a high frequency of 13.56 MHz, or in the 2.45 GHz band. Then the Radio Law was revised in April 2005 to allocate the 952 to 954 MHz UHF band for RFID tags. The Law was again revised in December 2006 to allocate the 433 MHz UHF for active tags.

The Japanese government published "The Guideline for Privacy Protection with regard to RFID tags" on June 8, 2004.
Contents of this Guideline is almost the same as EPCglobal's Privacy Guideline.

The Summary of the Guideline is as follows;

1. Notification to consumers that the product is tagged with RFID tag
2. Reservation of consumers' final choice on reading RFID tags
3. Giving information regarding the social benefits of RFID tags
4. The rule for using information data recorded in RFID tags by linking them to computers and networks
5. Restrictions on collection and use of personal information in tags
6. Ensuring accuracy of personal information when they are recorded
7. Appointment of Information Manager
8. Providing information about RFID tags to consumers for education and understanding

From FY2004 to FY2006, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) conducted the Hibiki Project to develop a high-quality and low-cost RFID tag for the UHF band.

The outline of this project is as follows.

1. Development of low-cost antenna manufacturing technology
2. Development of low-cost implementation technology
3. Development of IC chips for the UHF band conforming to international standards

The outcome of this project, the Hibiki tag, has been developed aiming that it complies with specifications of the international standard ISO 18000-6 Type C (EPC Class 1 Generation 2 (C1 Gen2)). This project aims at marketing the tag inlets that satisfy the above specifications at a unit price 5 yen, and a mass production is expected to take place in 2007.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been conducting pilot projects on RFID for HF and UHF band in various fields. The amount of METI's funding to those projects is 52.3M$ from FY2004 to FY2006.
In FY2006, the following 9 projects were conducted with great success.

1. Pilot in consumer electronics industry (Reverse SCM by using RFID)
2. Field test in the publishing industry (Books, Comics)
3. Pilot in convenience stores
4. Pilot in GMS supply chain
5. Pilot in Apparel supply chain (International Logistics and Store Management)
6. Field Test in department stores (Ladies' shoes, cosmetics)
7. ASEAN cross-country pilot for electronics products
8. Verification of multi-code (EPC and Ubiquitous)
9. 9. Development of Secure RFID tag

The Japanese department store industry participated in RFID pilots conducted by METI and tested HF and UHF based tags on ladies shoes in FY2004, on premium jeans in FY2005, and then on cosmetics in FY2006.
These pilots proved that the RFID tags were very useful for merchandise management, such as receiving and shipping inspections and inventories, as well as ogistics management in hanging over the supply chain, from manufacturers to department stores. Item-level tagging also demonstrated its usefulness in in-store inventory management, sales management using POS, and customer services. Customers regarded highly of the convenience achieved by the use of tags.
As a result of the pilots, 27 shops in three major department stores began using RFID systems for four kinds of products, such as ladies' shoes, premium jeans, dress shirts, and business bags. Virtual make-up kiosks developed in the pilots using RFID tags were also installed at cosmetics counters in some of these department stores.