A camera linked to AI is being used to combat overtourism.
This is a railway crossing in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, a popular tourist destination for fans of the manga “Slam Dunk,” attracting many visitors from both Japan and abroad. A tourist from Hong Kong said, “I came here for ‘Slam Dunk’.”
A tourist from Italy said, “This place is famous for ‘Slam Dunk’.” “We planned this trip just to take pictures here. There are so many people.” Due to a series of disruptive behaviors by some tourists, Kamakura City is conducting a pilot project to install AI-linked cameras in the surrounding area to help with countermeasures. The AI graphs the degree of congestion based on the number of people detected by the cameras and displays the busiest times on the website.
In the future, the city plans to use the captured data to understand the situation regarding photography on the streets, trespassing on private property, and parking on the streets, and use this information to consider security measures. A person in their 20s said, “Security guards alone can’t handle everything. There are times when there are a lot of people and times when there are few, so I think using cameras is a good idea.” The captured images are published on the website every three minutes. (From the broadcast on March 29, 2026) [TV Asahi NEWS]
