Japan's Digital Agency has announced that My Number Cards are being used to verify age at university festivals (gakuensai) around the country, as part of efforts to prevent alcohol from being served to people under 20 ^[1]. According to the agency, festivals that serve alcohol attract visitors of many ages, making reliable age checks necessary, and the new system aims to ensure accuracy while reducing the burden on student staff who run the events ^[1].

The initiative uses the "My Number Card Face-to-Face Verification App," a web service and application provided by the Digital Agency ^[1]. Under this system, visitors present either a physical My Number Card or a My Number Card added to an iPhone, and student staff scan it with the app to confirm the person is 20 or older ^[1]. Once verified, visitors can receive a wristband or follow other rules set by each festival in order to purchase alcohol ^[1]. The agency notes that some universities limit this verification to the iPhone version of the card only ^[1].

With a physical card, the app reads the IC chip to confirm identity, which the Digital Agency says helps guard against impersonation using forged identification compared with staff simply checking a card visually; no PIN entry is required for this check ^[1]. With the iPhone version, the app only confirms whether the holder is 20 or older, without revealing their name, address, or exact age to student staff ^[1].

The Digital Agency listed several festivals where the system is being implemented, including Tokyo City University's Yokohama Festival on September 12–13, Nagaoka University of Technology's Gidaisai on September 19–20, Shinshu University's Engineering Campus Komyosai on October 24, Tokyo City University's Setagaya Festival on October 31–November 1, Shinshu University's Ina Campus Karamatsusai on November 7, and Kyoto University's November Festival from November 20–23 ^[1]. The agency added that the specific details and hours of implementation vary by festival ^[1].

The agency also explained that users can add a My Number Card to an iPhone via Apple Wallet, which can then be used for logging into the My Number portal app, as a health insurance card at hospitals, for obtaining certificates at convenience stores, and now for age verification at participating festivals, without needing to carry the physical card ^[1].

Source credit 出典：「学園祭での年齢確認にマイナンバーカードを活用しています」（デジタル庁）（https://www.digital.go.jp/news/6a52d1e9-30cc-455a-9154-f32479d1731a）、PDL1.0（https://www.digital.go.jp/resources/open_data/public_data_license_v1.0）を加工してJapan News (j.apan.news)が作成 This article is Japan News's own English summary of the Japanese original. It has been translated and edited by Japan News; it is not an official translation, and the Digital Agency did not write or review it.