Tobu Railway and Hitachi are gradually introducing a biometric authentication-based digital identity platform in 100 or more commercial facilities, such as convenience stores, shopping malls, railway stations or Tokyo Sky Tree.
The new service allows users to pay without their own credit cards or digital payment apps and to get loyalty points.
The service started at pop-up stores in the first floor of Tokyo Soramachi in Tokyo Sky Tree on September 3, followed by Solaria Stage in Fukuoka on September 26, about 20 restaurants in Koshigaya and Kawagoe, Saitama in November, official shops of Tokyo Sky Tree by the end of March 2025, ‘TJ Liner’ of Tobu Railway in 2025 and Family Mart convenience stores in 2026.
They plan to begin facial recognition in addition to finger vein recognition, which is expected to expand opportunities to use the service, probably passing through a railway gate without any railway passes in the future, and also to allow users to get points of major loyalty point providers.
