Japan to Test Pay by Fingerprint for Foreign Tourists

Tokyo, Sept. 28 (Jiji Press)--The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Wednesday that it will test a service allowing visitors from abroad to make payments only with their fingerprints at popular tourist spots. The trial will be part of a project to be launched in October in cooperation with the private sector. Through the project, the ministry hopes to develop services that will improve the convenience of tourists and to collect information such as shopping records to share with business operators. The government aims to boost the annual number of visitors to 40 million and the annual spending by tourists from abroad to 8 trillion yen by 2020. But rural areas tend to lack financial settlement services useful for foreigners and information on their interests and shopping behavior. A travel industry official said that rural areas are missing business opportunities. For the project, JTB Corporate Sales Inc. and others will introduce a pay-by-fingerprint service at tourist spots in the Kanto eastern Japan region, including the hot spa resorts of Hakone and Yugawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo. Some 220 businesses, such as hotels and souvenir shops will participate. Tourists will be able to shop without a credit card or cash. The service will be also available to Japanese tourists. In other regions, a pay-by-smartphone service mainly by electronics giant Panasonic Corp. <6752> will be tested in Osaka, western Japan, and prepaid cards will be distributed to foreign tourists chiefly by travel agency JTB Corp. in the southwestern city of Fukuoka. The ministry will analyze information collected through the project, including gender, age and nationality, and try to find country-specific characteristics. The ministry will call on tourist business operators across the country to participate in the project, aiming to prepare a tourist-friendly environment ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. END