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| Scheme aimed to demonstrate Japan’s advanced technology during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games |
Starting this summer, the government will test a
system in which foreign tourists will be able to verify their identities and
buy things at stores using only their fingerprints.
The government hopes to increase the number of
foreign tourists by using the system to prevent crime and relieve users from
the necessity of carrying cash or credit cards. It aims to realize the system
by the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The experiment will have inbound tourists
register their fingerprints and other data, such as credit card information, at
airports and elsewhere.
Tourists would then be able to conduct tax
exemption procedures and make purchases after verifying their identities by
placing two fingers on special devices installed at stores.
The Inns and Hotels Law requires foreign tourists
to show their passports when they check into ryokan inns or hotels.
The government plans to substitute fingerprint
authentication for that requirement.
A total of 300 souvenir shops, restaurants,
hotels and other establishments will participate in the experiment. They are
located in areas that are popular among foreign tourists such as Hakone,
Kamakura, Yugawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, and Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture.
The government plans to gradually expand the
experiment by next spring, to cover areas including tourist sites in the Tohoku
region and urban districts in Nagoya.
It hopes to realize the system throughout the
country, including Tokyo, by 2020.
Introducing the system is part of the
government’s efforts to increase the annual number of foreign tourists to 40
million by 2020.
It is also aiming to demonstrate the country’s
advanced technology by having tourists use the system when they visit Japan for
the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
Data concerning how and where foreign tourists
use the system will be managed by a consultative body led by the government,
after the data is converted to anonymous big data.
After analyzing tourists’ movements and their
spending habits, the data is expected to be utilized to devise policies on
tourism and management strategies for the tourism industry.
However, there are concerns that tourists will be
uneasy about providing personal information such as fingerprints.
The experiment will examine issues including how
to protect one’s privacy and information management.
Attempts to put similar systems into practical
use are under way at a bank and a theme park in Japan.
In October last year, the Huis Ten Bosch theme
park in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, introduced on a trial basis a similar
system in which visitors can make payments with just their fingerprints at
about 30 stores and restaurants.
An official from the theme park said, “The system
has been well received by customers, including those with children, since it
saves them the trouble of taking their wallets out.”
By the end of this month at the earliest,
Tokyo-based Aeon Bank will become the first bank in Japan to test a system in
which customers will be able to withdraw cash from automatic teller machines
using only fingerprints for identification and omitting the use of cash cards.
“The system is also superior in the area of
security, such as preventing people from impersonating our customers,” an
official from the bank said.
Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun
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