GoKawiilQR Codes Trace Origins to 1994 Toyota Supplier Denso
QR codes were created in 1994 by Denso, a Toyota parts supplier, as a way to speed up factory scanning by packing far more data into a single code than a barcode could hold. Engineer Masahiro Hara led the project, drawing on the board game Go for the grid design and testing printed materials to find a black-to-white ratio that scanners could reliably detect. The format spread slowly through Japanese camera phones before becoming a global fixture in payments, tickets, logins and marketing.