Tourists in Japan to use fingerprints as 'currency'

PanARMENIAN.Net - If you're going to Japan, you might soon be able to shop using just your fingerprints, Digital Spy reveals.

That's because the government will start testing a new payment system in which tourists verify their identities and pay for goods and services by touching their fingertips against a reader.

The idea is that by eliminating the need to carry cash and credit cards, crime will be reduced.

As The Japan News reports, the system aims to roll out completely by the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As a tourist, you would register your fingerprints and other data like credit card information when you arrive at the airport in Japan.

You would then be able to buy things by touching two fingertips against a reader in shops, restaurants, hotels and other establishments, Digital Spy said.

However, at the moment, all of the 300 participating outlets are in the tourist districts of Hakone, Kamakura and Yugawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, and Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture. So if you go off the beaten track, you'll need to carry some cash.

The system would also let you check in to hotels without showing your passport, and the government plans to roll it out nationwide by 2020.

A similar system was tested in the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture in October last year.

Tokyo-based Aeon Bank will soon become the first in Japan to let customers withdraw cash using just their fingerprints.