New Web site in Japan maps out smells

by Sanjay Jha | January 12, 2009 at 05:02 am

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It may sound strange and unbelieveable but a group of enterprising people in Japan have developed a website which can identify the geographical location of human being with their odours.

Launched in December, the "Nioi-bu," or Smell Club, has registered more than 160 scents around the world, ranging from "steam coming out of a rice cooker" to "used socks in the summer," and pinpointed their locations on a Google map.

Nearly 200 members, called "smellists," have joined the Japanese-language only site, said Kayo Matsubara, spokeswoman of its operator, KAYAC Inc.

Users can either click on a balloon on the world map on the Web site, or use an index to find each scent if they're not yet on the map.

Some of what they report: "A toasty odor of cow dung" in Fujisawa City, just southwest of Tokyo. In Kamakura, eastern Japan, "cats with halitosis" were suspected to be roaming about.