Face Recognition Catching On

A recent article by Kyodo News Service profiled the use of the technology at a recent concert for the female idol group Momoiro Clover Z, which took place at the Seibu Prince Dome in Saitama, just north of Tokyo. A 48-year-old man who belongs to the group’s fan club showed up for the concert and submitted to the facial scan.

The process took less than a minute, and he had his prepaid tickets. He told the reporter that at past concerts for the group he sometimes had to wait up to an hour “before I was able to get in.” That’s because staff would have to check every person’s ID. At present, the system is available only for fan club members, who, when they join, submit a photo that is incorporated into their membership card, which also contains an IC chip.

After paying for the ticket, all they have to do is present their card at the entrance. The company that runs the concerts for Momoiro, Tapirs, told Kyodo, “The technology means only identifiable people become concertgoers.”

He added that the technology has lots of other applications, “such as preventing terrorism,” so he believes it will become much more widespread for public events in the future.

The technology was developed by NEC Corporation, mainly for use at airports. However, now that Japan’s concert industry has declared an all-out war on scalping and ticket resale on Internet sites, they are likely to invest more in such technology.