JR East eyes introduction of ‘walkthrough’ ticket gates — The Mainichi — “East Japan Railway Co is looking to introduce ‘walkthrough’ ticket gates at stations that will enable passengers to access gates via a specialized smartphone application. Under the envisaged system, millimeter waves will be emitted from an antenna placed on the ceiling above a gate that will open once data sent from the passenger’s smartphone application has been received.”
7-Eleven opens trial store in Tokyo using facial recognition payment system — The Mainichi — “Convenience store giant Seven-Eleven Japan Co launched a trial 7-Eleven store with a self-checkout system using facial recognition technology here on Dec 17 as it aims to promote labour-saving measures and introduce cashless payments amid concerns of labour shortages… Seven-Eleven Japan Co plans to install the system at small-scale 7-Eleven outlets, such as those inside office buildings, making it the first convenience store chain of its kind in Japan.”
Japan’s megabanks aim to introduce unified smartphone payment system — The Mainichi — “MHFG announced that it will soon embark on a verification test of smartphone payments with Toho Bank, headquartered in Fukushima Prefecture, using the barcodes. It is thought that the results of the test will be used to create uniform standards for the two-dimensional barcodes that are currently being mulled by the three banking groups.”
Fraud cases across three prefectures involving Apple Pay exploit loophole: Sources — The Mainichi — “Multiple fraud cases involving stolen credit card information via Apple’s iPhone payment system ‘Apple Pay’ occurred across Osaka, Kyoto and Saitama prefectures in late March this year, investigative sources have revealed… Apple Japan said it had confirmed the Saitama cases, and a source disclosed that after the incidents occurred, Apple reportedly gathered credit card issuing companies together and warned them to exercise caution.”