Facial recognition gates for Japanese launched at Haneda airport

As of now, the Justice Ministry said the new gates are only being utilized for Japanese travelers upon arrival. However, plans to introduce the automated screening gates during departure are planned for the near future at Narita, Chubu and Kansai international airports, in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020.

So does that mean that they won't subject us to the demeaning process of being fingerprinted anymore? Ok fine. I have no problem with them scanning my face as long as they get rid of the fingerprinting.

I haven't been out of Japan for a while; can residents still come in with the Japanese?

@Harry_Gatto: There is now a separate line for re-entrants.

There is now a separate line for re-entrants.

The VIP line, as I like to think of it. Never more than a 10 second wait in my experience. Usually even faster than the citizens line.

I don't understand why they don't have the finger scan for locals as well, it might well help solve some crimes. because its perfectly acceptable to store foreigners finger prints in a immigration database which the police have access too to compare with finger prints at crime scenes, but it not acceptable for J nationals to have their fingerprints stored for the same reasons. Just more double standards. Considering that Japanese commit more crimes on a per capita basis than foreigners in Japan it would be good for immigration to collect J national fingerprints as well.

The VIP line, as I like to think of it. Never more than a 10 second wait in my experience. Usually even faster than the citizens line.

If the re-entrants line is actually open. At Kansai they sometimes don't bother and you have to wait until someone comes and opens up a desk.

As for facial recognition, it's great if it works properly. I'm not holding my breath. It won't help immigration queues due to the Olympics neither as non-Japanese will still be queuing for photos and fingerprinting.

Very good to hear! It makes sense to restrict it for foreign travelers though

let me rephrase my question, why is it acceptable to store foreigners fingerprints in a database even those that have commit no crimes, but its unacceptable to do the same with J nationals in Japan?

scanning our own citizens face is like George Orwell. Just concentrate on foreigners who will overstay their visa.there will be millions. Don't harass us Japanese citizens.

Great. Japanese people can have a taste of what foreigners have endured for 10 years

Haneda is simply the 1st, right now are doing field testing and finding.

Works with people with similar facial, bone structure.

Finding should be fine tuning

As Harry, I haven’t been out for a while.... Any other PRs here been "out and back in" who have renewed their passport since 2015 so now don’t have the stamp (sticky seal) in their passport but just the Residence Card?

LLT

Yep, no more passport re-entry stickers.

They had these face-scanners at Manchester back in April. Maybe there were teething problems, but it was the longest wait I’ve ever had at a passport control.

Nearly missed my train home....

@Serend, thanks for the info, plus, also.... the actual sticker that was in your old passport that showed your status --as a Permanent Resident-- you don’t have to move that into your new passport (Since 2015), but just show your Residence Card (and of course passport)?

Yeah, your Residence Card, the one they keep asking for when I'm leaving: 外人カードを下さい。

Japanese and foreign residents can still use the automatic gates, I never use the re-entry line, just automatic gates for exit and re-entry. No one ever uses those lines, New Years, Golden week etc, breeze right through in a minute.

scanning our own citizens face is like George Orwell. Just concentrate on foreigners who will overstay their visa.there will be millions. Don't harass us Japanese citizens.

Not even getting close Chris.

scanning our own citizens face is like George Orwell. Just concentrate on foreigners who will overstay their visa.there will be millions. Don't harass us Japanese citizens.

And don't harass US foreigners with PR. We should be allowed to come in the same gates as you Japanese. Don't we pay the same taxes?

Residency and admittance to Japan and any country, is a privilege not a right for foreigners.

NO. Its a right when your family is here. When you are the one feeding and clothing your JAPANESE spouse and children.

The government is charged with keeping Japan safe. They can basically do almost whatever they want, as they do in the States, Europe and Israel to keep their country safe.

Activists affiliated with such groups have used Molotov cocktails and time bombs to intimidate moderate politicians and public figures, including former Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka and Fuji Xerox Chairman Yotaro Kobayashi. An ex-member of a right-wing group set fire to LDP politician Koichi Kato's house. Koichi Kato and Yotaro Kobayashi had spoken out against Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_nationalism

They should fingerprint Japanese since ALL terrorism in Japan has been committed by Japanese, and not by foreigners. Shoko Asahara is Japanese. No foreigners in Aum Shinrikyo.

You don't like it, no one is forcing you to stay, go home.

Of course if we said THAT to a Japanese overseas, we would be called racists. I guess the "culture" here is different.

These exist already in several European countries. It worked pretty well when I was traveling around there in summer, but sometimes people slowed down the system as they put their passport in the scanner the wrong way around, took it out, put in in the wrong way again, took it out, etc. Overall it was a pretty smooth experience though.

@M3M3M3

The VIP line, as I like to think of it. Never more than a 10 second wait in my experience. Usually even faster than the citizens line.

I found that, the "special" line was empty last time I tried, scanned my passport, fingerprint and face scan, easy. Then..... a nice young chap checked my passport.. just like all the other people travelers :-)

LTT

Yes, correct.

How about offloading passport control to some Japan Airlines overseas, then those flying with them, can simply breeze through ? That'd sort out a lot of congestion issues, and could be a model for use elsewhere.