Japan to test biometric cashless payments for foreign tourists

Japan’s economy ministry is planning to test cashless payment technology using fingerprints and other biometric markers to make transactions more convenient for foreign tourists, sources close to the project say.

The trials by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will be held from around October in tourism hot spots in the Kanto area around Tokyo, the Kansai region centering on Osaka and the island of Kyushu in the country’s southwest, the sources said.