Japan Puts Automatic Translator to the Test in Bustling Tourist Area

Seibu Railway is piloting an automatic translation window to assist visitors navigate Tokyo.

The weak yen has made travel to Japan cheaper than it has been in decades, bringing an unprecedented influx of tourists visiting the country of almost 2 million in June. This is the highest monthly total since the global coronavirus crisis began in 2019.

Under these circumstances, Toppan, a Japanese printing business, has created a gadget called VoiceBiz that allows users to talk to a station operator via microphones while having their conversation displayed in Japanese and 11 additional languages on a semi-transparent monitor.

Earlier this month, Seibu Railway, a subsidiary of the Seibu Holdings group, put a translation window at its Seibu-Shinjuku station, the endpoint of one of its central Tokyo lines, for a three-month experiment before evaluating a broader expansion. Every day, the station serves as a connecting point for over 135,000 people, many of them are international visitors travelling between popular attractions in Tokyo like the brand-new Harry Potter theme park. The Shinjuku sector is the perfect place to put navigational technologies to the test, also thanks to its vast bus terminal and network of trains.

Ayano Yajima, supervisor for the sales and marketing department at Seibu Railway, said that the company introduced the system so that passengers may look one other in the eye during conversations.

Toppan plans to market the gadget to Japanese companies and government agencies in an effort to tackle increasing number of international visitors to Japan as well as the country's burgeoning immigrant population.

 

Source: skift.com