The pilot program is part of a government drive to find ways to make Japan more attractive to foreign tourists, who are often put off by the language barrier and the country's high prices.

The mobile units with Chinese, Korean and English software will be lent to selected tourists who land at Narita Airport near Tokyo from February through March to test the response, the transport ministry said in a statement.

"We will examine ways to build an environment in Japan that will be easier for foreign tourists," the statement said.

Japan has set the goal of nearly doubling the number of foreign tourists to 10 million in 2010 from 5.73 million in 2003.

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.