The transport ministry decided Tuesday to introduce cutting-edge computed tomography machines for security checks at Tokyo's Haneda airport in fiscal 2017 on a trial basis to improve baggage inspection accuracy and processing time, ministry officials said.
After examining the outcome of the trial, the Japanese government plans to employ the machines at other airports to better cope with an expected increase in the number of foreign visitors to Japan ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020.
Unlike the currently used inspection system, the new machines offer a 360-degree view of objects subject to security checks so passengers will no longer have to take out plastic bottles and laptop computers from their bags in advance to put them in a tray for examination. Similar machines have already been introduced at airports in the Netherlands and Singapore.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is expected to request a budget allocation for the fiscal year starting next April to introduce the machines.