Japan is home to brilliant people who have long gone unnoticed. This is a statement accompanying the title of Project X: The Challengers-New Beginnings, a TV documentary series by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation, Japan's national public broadcaster). NEC's face recognition technology is now used worldwide, perhaps most notably at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan (Expo 2025). One episode in this documentary series chronicles how NEC embraced the challenge of developing the world's most accurate face recognition technology. In this edition of NEC Stories, we bring you a behind-the-scenes look at the production of this episode that delves into the perspectives of the people who made this possible—yet humbly state that they are not geniuses, just ordinary people—while also rediscovering NEC's underlying strength. (Note: Honorifics omitted below)

"What made this possible?"

"Did you ever feel like you were facing an impossible task?"
"What did you find yourself thinking at that moment?"
"Why were you able to prevail?"
The NEC employees interviewed for this episode of NHK's documentary series found themselves bombarded with countless questions between the summer and fall of 2025. Filming alone took roughly 60 hours. The NHK production team was focused on chronicling NEC's journey to make its face recognition technology the best in the world.

The episode of Project X: The Challengers-New Beginnings featuring NEC's face recognition technology aired on NHK on November 1, 2025. Used for the entrance gates at EXPO 2025, ATMs, airports, and various other applications, NEC's face recognition technology not only makes our lives more convenient but also plays a vital role in ensuring our safety and security. To date, NEC's face recognition technology has been ranked the world's most accurate multiple times. NEC Fellow Hitoshi Imaoka, who has led the research efforts that made this possible, was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Emperor of Japan in the spring of 2023, and is one of the main "characters" in this episode.

Where there is dazzling light, there are also deep shadows. These shadows are what were brought to light in this episode.

When Imaoka first got involved in the research behind face recognition technology in the 2000s, it was not a career move he had high hopes for. Reflecting on that time of his life, Imaoka says, "I was just a white collar worker with no hope of getting ahead." Face recognition was not well regarded within NEC, and it was also a time when other companies were starting to withdraw from the field. Despite this adversity, Imaoka and his team decided to take on the challenge of participating in an international benchmark test in 2008, namely, the face recognition technology benchmark test conducted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

This is where the story of an unthinkable comeback was made possible by NEC’s own risk-takers begins. The team somehow managed to rank first in the world from its very first attempt in 2009, and the winds were starting to shift.

"Ordinary employees gave it their all"

The story behind their journey is not a dramatic one, but rather unassuming. Why, then, did NHK choose to showcase these risk-takers? To answer this, we spoke with Genki Fukuda, an NHK director.

Fukuda told us outright, "To tell you the truth, I'm not even all that interested in face recognition technology."

He continued, explaining, "What actually drew me in was the fact that a group of ordinary white collar workers like ourselves made this happen by simply giving it their all. They weren't necessarily geniuses or even tremendously talented. Yet, their relentless efforts resulted in NEC being ranked first in the world time after time. I think that's truly incredible."

How did these ordinary people take NEC all the way to the top of the world rankings? To get to the bottom of it, Fukuda spent hours asking every member involved question after question, admitting, "I actually felt like I was pushing them too hard."

The person Fukuda spent the most time interviewing after Imaoka was Yusuke Morishita. Morishita joined NEC in 2008, and of everyone interviewed for the episode, he has probably spent the most time with Imaoka. He is also one of the members who participated in the NIST benchmark test in which NEC was matched up against Microsoft between 2018 and 2019, a time period depicted as the climax of the story in this episode.

The emergence of Microsoft, which at first glance seemed to have an overwhelming advantage over NEC in terms of the number of researchers, the amount of data it possessed, and its financial resources, led Morishita to think they didn't have a chance. As initially feared, they lost their lead in the interim evaluations. However, NEC managed to turn the tables by the time of the final results, maintaining its position at the top of the world ranking in September 2019.

"There's no point if you can't use it"

Morishita rediscovered something during the course of the interview.

"Robust is a word I use all the time. However, if I reflect on when I first started thinking about the true meaning of the word…" Morishita paused as if to gather his thoughts before continuing, then said, "It must have been when I was going to visit customer after customer with Mr. Imaoka."

His interview with NHK led Morishita to contemplate NEC's strengths. As he sat in front of the camera, he finally arrived at the answer to a question posed to him countless times, "How was a group of ordinary researchers able to beat Microsoft?"

"It doesn't matter how well it works 99% of the time. If there is even one case in which a customer experiences a failure, they'll no longer trust face recognition." For Morishita, who had first-hand experience with this sort of situation, this is something he will never forget.

"In the end, what really matters is that we have always engaged directly with those on the front lines and our customers." In other words, you must listen carefully to your customers and focus on tackling the things you can't do one by one. This mindset is what enabled NEC to defeat Microsoft and maintain its number-one spot. The words spun by Morishita over the course of the interview proved to be a key piece in the episode's conclusion.

"I've had a connection with this technology all along"

Akihiro Hayasaka was also part of the journey that led to NEC being ranked No.1 in the world, and he continues to conduct research on face recognition technology to this day. Looking back on the interviews he participated in for the episode in this TV documentary series, Hayasaka had this to say.

Prefacing by stating, "I thought I would have to say something TV-worthy," Hayasaka continued on, saying, "At the time, it was tough. Incredibly tough. And I don't just mean the benchmark tests, but also our efforts to expand the business. I was determined to find a way to use NEC's technology for the benefit of society, and I wanted viewers to see that all sorts of thoughts and aspirations went into getting the results that we did."

The Japan World Exposition, Osaka, 1970 (EXPO '70), was held 55 years ago, and the origins of NEC’s face recognition technology can be traced back to technology used at that event. The technology for reading handwritten addresses on postal mail, which was used during Japan’s period of high economic growth, also has ties to today’s fingerprint and face recognition technologies.

Once interviews for the episode came to an end, Hayasaka looked back on it all, saying, "The technologies and expertise passed down from predecessors who came long before Mr. Imaoka are what have enabled NEC to become number one in the world and provide value to its customers."

More than 30 individuals cooperated in carrying out these interviews with NEC personnel. Atsushi Sato, who served as Imaoka's supervisor and led face recognition research, and Yoshihiro Mizuguchi, who worked hard to promote sales of face recognition systems, were also interviewed as members who have carried the NEC baton.

NEC remains committed to creating social value, an aspiration that continues to be passed down from generation to generation.

Recommended Articles

NEC Stories Top