Usually cash is a good idea when traveling overseas, especially if you’re not a fan of being charged for service fees and getting horrible exchange rates when withdrawing from a foreign ATM or using your credit card. However traveling with cash can be dangerous as it could be easily stolen, leaving you stranded.
In fact having your wallet stolen can also mean that your cash, credit cards, and ATM cards could be gone in an instant, and this is a situation that Japan is hoping to avoid. So much so that according to a recent announcement by the Japanese government, they are hoping to implement a system so that tourists from other countries can make payments and verify themselves using just their fingerprints.
Basically this system can be setup at the airport where tourists will have their credit cards linked to their fingerprints. From there, the idea is that they will be able to go around and make purchases and just scan their fingerprints instead of having to carry money and cards. They are hoping to eventually allow for tourists to check into hotels using the same system, but right now the law requires that guests show some form of identification such as a passport.
It’s an interesting idea and right now about 300 shops will be participating in the pilot, and they are hoping that come 2020 the system will be more widespread in time for the Olympics which Japan will be hosting.
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