Japan’s Medirom Healthcare Technologies, partnered with Hakuhodo Inc., in joining forces with the biometric proof-of-human protocol co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
This initiative will focus on fueling the adoption of World ID, touted as a privacy-preserving digital credential that verifies users are authentic humans rather than AI bots, by leveraging it into Medirom’s Re.Ra.Ku relaxation salon chain.
Hakuhodo is the flagship domestic partner for World’s expansion in Japan, to maintain planning and operational support through a partnership with Tools for Humanity announced last December. This will help to cater the World experience to Japanese users.
Medirom will start installing the iris scanning Orbs, World’s dedicated biometric authentication device, across its Re.Ra.Ku network. The first deployments are expected later this year, with installations targeting about 100 salons by the end of December and 500,000 new World IDs to be issued annually to salon visitors.
The co-founder of the San Francisco-based organization, Tools for Humanity, Alex Blania and Sam Altman, will supply the required World technology and oversee platform operations and security. The Re.Ra.Ku Group operates more than 300 relaxation salons across Japan under six brands, all of which fall under Medirom ownership. These include storefronts, spas found in hot spring facilities rural reflexology centers, etc., giving the brand a wide retail footprint across Japan.
This collaboration marks a major step toward blending everyday experiences such as wellness services with cutting-edge, AI-era identity verification technology. Together, Medirom, Hakuhodo, and Tools for Humanity focuses to build public trust and reinforce a global ecosystem.