Photo/Illutration An automated translation machine operates on March 4 at Tochomae Station on Tokyo’s Toei Subway Line. (Yuka Honda)

An automatic translation machine that can handle 12 languages has been installed at a subway station in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward to improve convenience for tourists from abroad.

Conversations spoken via microphone are translated and appear as text on a transparent display at Tochomae Station on the Toei Oedo Line.

The system started running on Feb. 29 and has been used around 20 times daily.

“At times, we have had trouble dealing with inquiries about lost items from non-Japanese passengers” along the Oedo Line, said a station staff member. “The device makes it possible to communicate with passengers in their mother tongues and allows us to respond smoothly.”

Many tourists use Tochomae Station to head for the observation deck of the Tokyo metropolitan government office building.

The metropolitan government’s Transportation Bureau said the translation system was installed in the run-up to the World Athletics Championships and the Deaflympics for hearing-impaired athletes that will be held next year.

The bureau said it will look at the system’s effectiveness to decide whether to install it at other stations next fiscal year at the earliest.

Although human guides fluent in English and Chinese have been deployed to some stations in Tokyo, the new machine covers many more languages, including Korean, Thai and Burmese.

Text can be entered with a keyboard so that the translator can help people with hearing or speech difficulties.

The total cost for the machine, including installation, display and usage fee, was 1.6 million yen ($10,600).

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