Japan to look at building a common infrastructure for digital yen payments

This has been done already throughout the rest of the World. They are called debit and credit cards. Welcome to the last 3rd of the 20th Century.

Yes please.

definitely a turn off. The old people must be terrified of going cashless. They can’t even operate the basics of their phone and here you are trying to pressure them into going cashless by offering them hundreds of options!

A bunch of which have shady security records

Enough of this societal obsession with memberships and valued customer points

Debit cards, i.e., direct payments from bank accounts, should have been introduced twenty years ago.

I can't say I'm that fussed about payment by an app on my phone. Someone's getting 3% and ultimately they are getting it from you, not from someone else. If the government is involved, the aim should be give the benefits of cashless to businesses and customers to promote the economy without some appointed middleman gatekeeper getting 3% for doing next to nothing. For some transactions, 3% is most of the margin.

It still amazes me that Japan has not ever thought about using debit payments! I know that we have had it in Canada for more than 30 years, mind you we have 5 major banks, so I guess that did make it a bit easier to introduce. But here we are in 2020, and with many of these cashless payments, you still have to go to a kiosk or ATM type machine to "charge" the card. Not convenient at all.

MarkXToday  07:26 am JST But here we are in 2020, and with many of these cashless payments, you still have to go to a kiosk or ATM type machine to "charge" the card. Not convenient at all.

It was really bad 30 years ago with cash machines at most banks closed early in the evening and weren't open at all at the weekend.

The article is not about debit or credit cards. It’s referring to digital currency used on smart phones. The most popular one is PayPay. Unfortunately the services aren’t well known by the foreign community here in Japan.

Japantime, , we understand that, but all we are saying is that there is a much easier way, and that is using your already available ATM card. And these days it is digital, just tap or swipe and away you go. No need to re-invent the wheel.

Jeff Huffman, don't I remember the bad old days, when the ATM's would close in the evenings and weekends. Especially long holidays, always had to remember to get cash before New Years.

@Japantime Even the article says most payments are still dealt with in cash. It is the average Japanese person who has no clue. But who can blame them, where there are dozens of different ways to pay now, and it depends on the business as whether they accept one particular form of payment over another. Some take only one type, some take several, some take them all, but they all accept cash!

I can't recall the number of times I have been screwed by not carrying cash and assuming that LinePay or the Railcard would work for payments.

No wonder people here prefer cash. It has nothing to do with foreigners.

The reason debit cards have been blocked by banks here is to retain the power to charge for financial settlements.

The bank’s customers are being royally shafted every time money is sent from one account holder to another.

Japan has many ways to relieve people of money by charging for permission to do almost anything that in most countries would be free.

The ability to freely send money is one of them...

Cash is expensive. The time it sits in the till is time it could be earning interest, and then there's the cost of transportation. Digital payments solve both these problems. However, whether mom-and-pop shops can adapt to this technology is questionable.

JapantimeToday  07:52 am JST The article is not about debit or credit cards. It’s referring to digital currency used on smart phones. 

Anything that is computerized is digital. It doesn't matter whether it's an app on a phone or a card with a chip.

But using cash is a cultural tradition. Never change Japan!

they want to impose and force people to use cashless. this is a violation of rights

A Common Infrastructure? They already have one. It’s called, a telephone line. Why is it so difficult for Japan to adopt a direct debit system for all banks? It is 2020 after all.

do not forget cashless is a tech relying on electricity and hackers. the most unsafe currency. should be never the main currency. next time kuroda of BOJ will type million of 0 digit on his game-boy to stimulate the economy or to buy foreign companies ...

Apart from China, cashless payments are failure. People spend money recklessly and easy get in debt. Yakuza will become professional debt collectors.

hackers and con artists will prey on the old.

everything you do will be recorded(translation product, time, location etc,) and held on both private an govt servers,

what could possibly go wrong?

Please don't use stupid QR codes...

It is the average Japanese person who has no clue.

Ah Tora. That illusive average Japanese strikes again.

I (not being an average Japanese ) prefer cash.

It is a choice and has nothing to do with being clueless.

gary

I use on a day to day basic my Debit Card issued in the UK. I have never had it refused and at a few shops I can even use it contactless. We Are not in a big city but out in the sticks. So the tech is already out there.

i get totally confused over which digital payment system to use which will cover most of my spending. Also which is one is safe.

I am a bit tired of hearing insults hurled at people for preferring to retain cash. These cashless cheerleaders seem entirely unaware of how many of their rights they are willing to hand over to the government for a little convenience.

In a cashless society, every payment you make and everything you buy can be monitored. If the government wants to outlaw pornography, marijuana, alcohol, even politically incorrect books, subscriptions or books critical of the government - the simply make it impossible to pay for them. And if you complain, they can use your record of purchases against you.

If your cousin gives you $10 to buy some beer, that's automatically recorded as income. Your assumed tax debt will be removed from your balance automatically. If Sony complains you downloaded a movie without paying, ditto - a large fine automatically deducted.

If you protest or become a nuisance to the government, the shut off your access to e-money. You will be unable to purchase anything at all. Go to jail, do not pass go.

I could go on all day, and think of many worse possible outcomes. If cash is eliminated, that leaves barter and bitcoin pretty much. Aside from that, the state will own you.

LagunaToday 08:17 am JST

Cash is expensive. The time it sits in the till is time it could be earning interest, and then there's the cost of transportation. Digital payments solve both these problems. However, whether mom-and-pop shops can adapt to this technology is questionable.

Haha yeah right interest in japan hahaha all of about 00.02% hahaha yeah sitting in the till its expensive .

Cash is the most convenient way to shop move around and by far the safest method in this country for daily life.

Credit Cards can be trouble some especially if for some reason the reader is malfucntioning. How many times have you had to go to the station attendant at the rail station because the suica didnt work as it is supposed to for example.

Older people do not trust technology and find operating new things difficult and confusing too.

The most value in using cash is in the fact that the greedy govt cannot track every transaction taking their 10% slice out for doing absolutely nothing and the struggling shop keeper or tradesman can actually keep the little extra to support his business instead of giving it to abe aso and the rest of those corrupt thieves.

The Govt wants cashless for a reason, that being they can be sure they get their 10% tax of everything thing.

Yeah and when there is an electricity failure you cannot buy or sell anything because the card cannot be read, the whole place stops, no trade, no sales, nothing, it is a dumb idea and too dangerous on many levels.

Cash is expensive.

thats what they want you to believe, the real reason is cash isnt traceable, so every digital payment you make the governement know what and where you bought something and most importantly tax all those services

what jeff said.

anyway, cashless is a very good idea as it might make the virus spread less- do we really want to be exchanging notes and coins?

@commenteer

i live in the countryside so around 50% of food is by the Betsubetsukokan swap system.

local izakaya I pay cash and the master gives me a tiny piece of paper with no items listed, no receipt, at a very reasonable price.

got solar panels as well. Veggie garden.

just got no cash.

debit card is no use to me and most countryside folk.

Japan has pretty much these days adopted Credit Card usage .. almost, everywhere. The places that don't are doing so for Tax reasons - you don't declare all your Cash-in-hand income.

ePayments using Phones etc are slow... please be considerate to the other shoppers.... and don't use them when there's a long queue.

For InterBank transfers, etc... the infrastructure of Banking (which is mostly transparent to us), using something specifically for digital Yen settlements is narrow minded. Lots of new work is being done for international settlements these days - its like BetaMax vs VHS all over again.

IN ENGLISH TOO PLS and simple to use system needed.

Bjorn:

Older people do not trust technology and find operating new things difficult and confusing too.

The exact reason used to justify an over-reliance on the fax machine and Windows XP, while the rest of the world progresses.

ePayments using Phones etc are slow... please be considerate to the other shoppers.... and don't use them when there's a long queue

Incorrect. Paying with an app like PayPay is generally faster than using a credit card, and even faster than cash. No PIN vodes to enter, and no waiting for change to be given. The added bonus is not having to touch any germ-laden money or card readers.