We were very happy when Japan announced that it would introduce age-verification cameras in cigarette vending machines, so that under-aged people would not get access to the poison stick. But apparently there is a terrible glitch in the system. A Sankei Sports news reporter carried out some tests and realized that magazine photos can be used to fool the age-verification cameras on some machines. Some new machines were introduced in the Osaka area in June; the reported discovered that the machine would let him buy cigarettes when he held up a 15-centimeter (6-in) wide magazine photo of a man who looked to be in his 50s. The reporter then went to Kobe, where different face recognition hardware is being used. There, he bought cigarettes using an 8-centimeter (3-in) wide magazine photo of a female celebrity in her 30s. He also reportedly tried to use a 3-centimeter (1-in) wide photo, but the machines rejected it. Fujitaka, the manufacturer of the vending machines says that the company is now working on a more advanced system that will make sure each face belongs to a real human, but are unable to say when these new machines will be ready.

Most of Japan's 570,000 cigarette vending machines are being fitted with RFID readers that check the purchaser's Taspo age-verification card. Smokers without a Taspo card can now either buy their cigarettes in person over the counter or use one of 4,000 special machines equipped with face-recognition systems (these machines do not require Taspo cards).

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