Panasonic Japan is installing 90 wireless charging stations in that country, beginning this month. Charging stations will follow the Wireless Power Consortium’s Qi standard, and will go in cafes, bars, nail salons, convenience stores and karaoke boxes.

The Qi standard incorporates magnetic induction technology, which uses a transmitter coil and a receiver coil – an alternating current is pushed through the transmitter coil, which generates a magnetic field which induces a voltage in the receiver coil. Panasonic will provide its own moving coil system, which automatically detects where a device is sitting on the charging pad, and compensates accordingly.

Below is a small clip describing Qi charging terminals:

Panasonic is also developing Qi-compatible battery packs, for older devices that won’t take a charge from the wireless stations. The latest Eluga smartphones support the technology, and if the initial roll-out goes well, Japanese users will soon have a new way of charging up.