A boarding system using a facial recognition technology was introduced at the Yamaman Yukarigaoka Line, a train service in a residential area in the city of Sakura, Chiba Prefecture, on Saturday. According to Yamaman, the operator of the line, it is the first time that a facial recognition-based boarding management system for general passengers has been put into practical use at a public transportation system in the country. After registering their face photo data and credit card information on a dedicated website in advance, passengers can board trains, without buying tickets, through cameras installed at the ticket gates at stations that recognize their faces. Passengers with commuter passes can also use the system. Yamaman introduced the system also to its bus service the same day.

CHIBA – A 75-year-old man operating a Japanese language school has been found dead at his apartment in Chiba Prefecture, prompting police to launch a murder investigation. The body of Jiro Iwai, who managed the school as well as other companies, was found around 1:30 p.m. Sunday when a female employee visited his home to find him dead and bleeding from a wound to the head. Investigative sources said Iwai, who lived alone in an apartment in Sakura, Chiba Prefecture, was likely struck multiple times in the killing. An autopsy showed he may have died of damage to his spinal cord. But despite the violent death, police said there were no signs of a struggle and that a light in the room where he was killed had been left on.

TOKYO • Come 2020 when the Olympic Games are held in Tokyo, drone deliveries, driverless taxis, and home robots will be the norm in one part of Japan. Visitors will see a beeline of drones in the sky in Chiba prefecture, just an hour away from the capital by train. At the designated drone zone, to be called Drone City, there will be around 200 of these flying robots whizzing through the air across a 10km distance at any one time, delivering goods from warehouses in Tokyo Bay to apartments that come with built-in landing ports for delivery drop-offs. Leading drone expert and pioneer, Dr Kenzo Nonami of Chiba University, is looking forward to living in such an apartment in Drone City, due for completion in three years' time. "If you don't like drones, don't live there," quipped Dr Nonami, who has helped develop drone technology over the past 20 years, and who painted the 2020 vision to The Straits Times.