GS1 Japan is holding seminars covering a wide range of topics such as GS1 System, the product catalogue database (JICFS/IFDB), EDI, and EPCglobal for promotional and education purposes, and these events have been well attended. In January each year, GS1 Japan holds a special seminar called "New Year Top Seminar" inviting executives from major retailers, wholesalers and manufactures as speakers. Further, we hold practical seminars such as "Barcode Basic Course" on a monthly basis in Tokyo and Osaka. These seminars have met with a favorable response. Particularly, the "Barcode Basic Course" has attracted a large number of participants from companies that want to acquire a company prefix as well as from IT vendors. The total number of participants for 2006 came to about 1,500. In 2006, we also ran a series of seminars about the new Japanese EDI system being developed under the governmental initiative to reach potential users throughout Japan. It was well received with the number of participants exceeding 1300. In 2007, we hold "EDI Implementation Seminar" monthly to help understand Ryutsu BMS (See 2.2.2). GS1 Japan also offers free consultation services on a range of topics including EAN code registration and utilization, how to print symbols, GTIN/GLN allocation rules, EDI and EPCglobal.