Photo= An automated translation machine developed by Panasonic Corporation

On June 22, Panasonic Corporation and JTB Corp. announced their cooperative relationship in the tourism sector to develop new services for foreigners visiting Japan, etc. As the first step, they are scheduled to conduct a field trial of multi-lingual, automated translation machines from this July. They'll expand the business in response to the increasing number of visitors coming to Japan thanks to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The devices will be set up at Kyoto Hotel Okura in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, where many foreign visitors stay, and other places to investigate translation performance and tourists' needs.

The equipment was developed by Panasonic Corporation and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology. They offer English, Chinese and Korean. The 4K high-definition tablet has a microphone and is programed to play a translation as well as display that text and show the sentences a few seconds after someone speaks to it.