Japanese vending machine operators made new cigarette vending machines that can count wrinkles, crow’s feet and skin sags in order to see if the customer is old enough to smoke. The legal age for smoking in Japan is 20. According to a study, 13 percent of boys and 4 percent of girls of high school smoked every day.

In Japan was built 570,000 tobacco vending machines for to ensure that buyers are not underage. These kinds of machines can identify the smokers age by studying facial features. Everything from sagging skin to wrinkles will be taken into account by the age-discerning machine which will then decide whether or not to serve the customer.

Facial characteristics, such as wrinkles surrounding the eyes, bone structure and skin sags can be identify by a digital camera that is attached at these unusual cigarette machines.

"With face recognition, so long as you’ve got some change and you are an adult, you can buy cigarettes like before. The problem of minors borrowing cards to purchase cigarettes could be avoided as well," said Yamamoto, a company spokesman.

Yamamoto added that the new system could correctly identify about 90% of the users, with the remaining 10% of minors that look older, and baby-faced adults. In such cases they would be asked to insert their driving license.

Scientists reported that Japan’s ’Tobacco Institute’ had decided that, by July 2008, all Japanese smokers would have to carry a "Taspo" (tobacco passport), for to prove their age. The cards would work in much the same way as a debit card, being able to offer proof of age and pay for the cigarettes at the same time.

New face-scanning software may help Japanese vending machines decide who can buy cigarettes and who can’t.

Researchers think that these new cigarette machines could decrease smoking among young people and in such a way they will protect minors from smoking.