And as the first phase of the SAKULaLa service using face recognition announced this time, it became possible to pass through automatic ticket gates by face recognition at 12 stations from Tobu-Utsunomiya Station to Tochigi Station on the Tobu-Utsunomiya Line on November 13 at 1 pm.
By adding facial recognition using Panasonic Connect technology to the conventional finger vein-only biometric authentication in SAKULaLa, the service can be expanded to various scenes such as railroad ticket gates, store payments, and access control, providing multiple biometric authentication of finger vein and facial recognition on the same platform. This is the first service in Japan to provide multiple biometric authentication of finger vein authentication and face recognition on the same platform.
Tobu Railway and Hitachi, Ltd. have introduced facial recognition to the biometric authentication service “SAKULaLa” and started using it at ticket gates on the Tobu Utsunomiya Line.
At the presentation, an actual automatic ticket gate machine with a built-in face recognition camera was exhibited, and a demonstration of actual ticket gates with a face pass was conducted, confirming that the passage through the gates was extremely smooth.
In addition, the company is aiming to build a highly versatile system that can be used not only by the Tobu Line but also by other railroad companies.
In the initial phase of the service, stand-alone face recognition tablets will be installed at existing automatic ticket gates, and a camera built into the tablet will be used to take a picture of the face for facial recognition. In the spring of 2026 or later, in cooperation with Omron Social Solutions, Nippon Signal, Toshiba, and Panasonic Connect, automatic ticket gates with built-in face recognition cameras will be installed at some stations, and the company is also considering introducing the system in some areas of the Tobu Tojo Line and Tobu Urban Park Line.
Note that the system cannot be used across stations that do not have face recognition turnstiles. Although the timing has not yet been determined, the company is also considering future compatibility with tickets other than commuter passes.
IC commuter pass holders who can pass through automatic ticket gates with face recognition are those who have face recognition compatible ticket gates installed between Tobu-Utsunomiya and Tochigi stations, and they must register their face information and commuter pass IC card number with SAKULaLa in advance.
Facial recognition payment even supports the granting of points.
SAKULaLa’s facial recognition-based service will be used not only for Tobu Railway’s automatic ticket gates, but also for store payments and entry/exit of office buildings and other facilities.
Since the service was launched in September 2024, SAKULaLa has been introduced at about 30 stores to date, including Tokyo Solamachi, Tobu Store, restaurants in the Koshigaya and Kawagoe areas of Saitama Prefecture, some Jyoshin Electric stores, and the self check-in machine at Tobu Utsunomiya Hotel. These were using finger vein authentication, but in the future, face recognition will also be used for payment.
For face recognition payment, the company is collaborating with JCB and linking with the JET-S series payment terminals of Japan Card Network, which accounts for about 50% of the total number of payment terminals installed in Japan. By installing the SAKULaLa application on compatible JET-S series terminals, face recognition payments can be made without the need for a new payment terminal. If a credit card is registered in SAKULaLa in advance, payment can be made with the registered credit card using facial recognition.
In addition, by registering point card information in SAKULaLa, a system that grants points at the same time as face recognition payment will be provided. This will be achieved by utilizing JCB’s “POICHI” service for the introduction of common points and miles.
The face recognition payment service is scheduled to be available in stores in the spring of 2026, and will first be introduced mainly at Tobu Group stores, FamilyMart stores, and other stores along the Tobu Line, with future nationwide expansion envisioned. JCB will also be involved in expanding the SAKULaLa service and developing merchants.
Use in the access control systems of office buildings and commercial facilities is achieved by linking with HISEKI, a comprehensive access control system provided by Hitachi Building Systems. The company or commercial facility using the system registers its employees and users with SAKULaLa. The system is scheduled to be used at Tobu Railway’s office entrances and exits from the spring of 2026.
Thus, SAKULaLa’s new service will first be introduced within the Tobu Group to build up a precedent, and in the future the company plans to expand the service to customers outside the group and to government services.
Mr. Takao Suzuki, Director, Executive Officer, and General Manager of the Railway Business Division of Tobu Railway, explained that SAKULaLa features the ability to manage multiple digital identities, such as credit card and membership information, by linking them to biometric information, so that a variety of services can be used without the need for a single biometric registration across different industries. and the ability to extract and utilize only the necessary information, such as address, age, and point number, depending on the usage scenario.
This allows users to use all compatible merchants and facilities with biometric authentication with a single registration of information, eliminates the need for a smartphone or card when using the service, and provides age-restricted services without confirmation.
Users can make payments, pass through ticket gates, and enter and exit buildings with biometric authentication alone, without having to take out their smartphones or cards each time. For businesses, the system will save labor for visual checks, eliminate labor shortages, and help prevent fraud such as the lending and borrowing of membership cards and counterfeiting of cards.
Utilizing these features of SAKULaLa, the company aims to solve social issues as a social infrastructure utilizing digital technology.
Mr. Kiichi Ishida, Business Executive Officer, General Manager, Managed & Platform Services Division, AI & Software Services Business Unit, Hitachi, Ltd. By using both finger vein and face authentication for authentication in highly sensitive systems and facilities, users can use various infrastructures such as transportation infrastructure, public facilities, financial services, and cloud computing securely and without having to use their own hands, he explained.
In addition, the company hoped to transform the customer experience by linking SAKULaLa with AI to provide a new customer experience through AI using registration information and to propose government and private services tailored to users in collaboration with local governments and the private sector.
In the Q&A session, a question was raised about the security system for handling biometric information. The service does not store biometric data itself, but only the encrypted public key created based on the biometric data to ensure excellent security. In addition, facial information obtained during authentication is immediately destroyed after authentication, and no information remains.
The company is also considering expanding its business to foreign tourists, saying that it has an affinity for revitalizing inbound tourism and may help solve the overtourism problem. He said that nothing has been decided at this point, but that he would like to actively pursue this project in consultation with related parties.
© Source travel watch