Originally Posted by
armagebedar
That Sankei article is incorrect -- non-Japanese residents registered for the automated gate program must still be manually approved by an immigration agent. Therefore, it would be a vast improvement if they simply eliminated the requirement to submit the immigration form and made the process truly automated. As with many things in Japan, I expect any movement towards this to be met with strong resistance from anti-immigration conservatives.
I was told a couple of years ago by an immigration officer that this was the plan. They all thought the current system was crap.... the equipment frequently didn't work, the processing time was not noticeably shorter, and it hadn't eliminated the paperwork. The only advantage was shorter lines because not many people used the system.
Who knows? Maybe they're working on it.