Central Japan city to launch machine translation screens in 134 languages

GOTEMBA, Shizuoka — The government of this central Japan city will introduce a system that automatically translates and displays conversations on a Plexiglas screen, in a bid to make its ticket counters more accessible to foreign nationals and people with hearing impairments.

The city, which introduced the system on November 25, plans to install four of these units at its civil affairs and social services counters in May 2025. The system will be the first of its kind to be introduced by a local government in the Shizuoka Prefecture. .

The system, called Cotopat, which Kyocera Corp. started selling in June, will be introduced at a price of around 2 million yen (around $13,000). Thanks to Google Translate, it can handle 134 languages ​​and display pre-recorded videos, photos, images and other data. It has already been implemented by the municipalities of Yokohama and Kyoto as well as the Driving License Center of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police.

During the demonstration, conversations from Japanese to English and German to Japanese were instantly translated, and when the system recognized pre-recorded terms such as “tourist places” and “identification documents”, it was able to display video footage of tourist locations and photos of documents. When staff use the devices to respond to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and the elderly, Japanese is displayed as is on the screen.

In addition to the text display system, the city will also operate nine application form assistance devices starting in January, which will be introduced at a cost of 9.1 million yen (about $59,000).

Gotemba had about 80,000 residents, including 2,878 registered foreign nationals as of October 1 this year, and many of them visit Mount Fuji or go to Gotemba Premium Outlets, one of Japan’s largest shopping malls. Mayor Masami Katsumata commented: “We want to make our service counters capable of providing easily understandable and appropriate support to both foreigners and people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Overcoming language barriers will also ease the burden on our staff.

(Japanese original by Hiroshi Ishikawa, Numazu Field Office)