The operator of Narita International Airport on Monday unveiled a new security system featuring surveillance cameras able to recognize faces and record vehicle license plates to replace the system of manually checking visitor identification.
Narita International Airport Corp., or NAA, has checked the identity of users since its opening in 1978 due in part to a history of violent protests against its construction. In recent years, security officers were deployed at six points, including railway stations and roads around the airport.
The new system involves some 190 cameras installed at terminal buildings and train stations to monitor users as well as some 140 cameras on roads and in parking lots that can record vehicle license plate numbers.
Bomb-sniffing dogs have been added to enhance patrols in and around the airport.
NAA studied revising the security system amid criticism that the old method, which was not used at any other domestic airport, was an inconvenience to passengers and others using the facility.
On Monday NAA also marked the completion of a new terminal building for low-cost carriers with a ceremony attended by about 400 people, including Chiba Gov. Kensaku Morita and NAA President Makoto Natsume.
Narita is the nation's biggest international airport. It has two runways: one 4,000 meters long and the other 2,500 meters long.