The increased adoption of biometric technology signals its coming dawn.

For those who love all things Japanese and travel regularly to the island nation, stocking up on yen and bringing your credit card is so passé.

 The Japanese government is testing a system that will allow you to use your fingerprints to make purchases at key tourist destinations, including restaurants and hotels. You will naturally, have to register your fingerprints at the airport before you begin your shopping extravaganza.

In fact, you wouldn’t even need to worry about showing your passport when checking into your hotel, as is currently the norm.

In the first phase, 300 locations, including, Kamakura, Hakone, Atami and Yugawara, will participate in this fingerprint led technological revolution which will gradually expand nationwide by 2020, which coincidentally will be the year when Tokyo is set to host the Summer Olympics.

Although your nervousness about sharing your biometric data in this age of hacking is understandable, officials have promised they will anonymise all of the data that will be collected.

Furthermore, Japan already collects fingerprint data when you enter the country. However, what it plans, will take things to the next level, as it can link your fingerprint data to your shopping and travel habits.

So as to reassure tourists and support tourism, the Japanese government will have to reassure them that that this collection of biometric data cannot be abused either by hackers or by overreaching politicians by design in a systemic level.