Japan plans fingerprint payments system

The Japanese Government is testing a system that allows foreign tourists to make purchases using their fingerprints.

Visitors register at the airport and then use the system to make purchases that are exempt from local taxes. They can also use it at their hotel instead of providing their passport.

The government will use this data to devise tourism strategies. 300 shops, restaurants, and hotels will join the first stage of the experiment, which launches this summer.

The government plans to increase the experiment so that, by the 2020 Olympics, it will be live throughout the country.

Picture by Moyan Brenn used under a Creative Commons License