export_ofoct.com

[00:00.40] Japanese railway operator, Seibu, is testing a special help desk for foreigners at one of the company’s busiest train stations.

[00:12.35] Visitors who need help at the Seibu-Shinjuku station in Tokyo can go to an information window and ask questions.

[00:22.71] About 135,000 people per day pass through the Seibu-Shinjuku station.

[00:30.15] To get help, a person just speaks into a microphone.

[00:35.99] A system called VoiceBiz listens to their words and displays them on the window in Japanese.

[00:43.96] The railway worker can see the question and reply in Japanese.

[00:51.40] Then VoiceBiz translates the answer into a language the person who needs help can understand.

[00:59.63] The system works with Japanese and 11 other languages.

[01:04.15] Rail stations throughout Japan are very busy this summer.

[01:08.40] More than 2 million people visited Japan in June, the most since before 2020.

[01:16.37] COVID-19 restrictions barred most foreign travelers for a long time.

[01:23.54] Kevin Khani was visiting Japan from Germany.

[01:29.91] He tried out the VoiceBiz system recently after getting confused in Seibu’s Shinjuku station.

[01:37.09] He said the translations were “spot on,” which means they were exactly right.

[01:44.52] He also said it is nice to see that there is a human working at the window.

[01:50.37] “So, you take your time to explain what you need, and you will know that they will understand what you need," he said.

[02:00.46] The Seibu railway has been testing the VoiceBiz system for three months.

[02:06.04] After that time, the company will consider using it in additional stations.

[02:11.35] Ayano Yajima is a sales and marketing official for Seibu.

[02:17.73] Yajima said looking at each other adds to the “smoothness of communication.”

[02:24.10] Toppan is the company that makes VoiceBiz.

[02:28.35] It tested the window at Kansai International Airport near Osaka earlier this year.

[02:34.46] It hopes to sell the windows to businesses and government offices in Japan so they can communicate with travelers and immigrants.

[02:46.94] The company believes the Shinjuku area is a good testing place.

[02:54.38] The busiest railway station in the world is nearby – 3.6 million people use the Japan Railway station in Shinjuku.

[03:03.94] Many people use the Seibu train to get to other trains and subways and go to other places in Tokyo or the rest of Japan.

[03:14.30] As a result, there is a high chance that someone gets lost or needs help.

[03:20.41] French visitors Isabelle and Marc Rigaud used the help window to find their way from the Seibu station to the Japan Railway station.

[03:32.89] They had just gotten off an airplane at 1 in the morning, local time.

[03:38.48] “It’s very Japan,” Isabelle said of the technology.