Digital wage payments start in Japan via PayPay in cashless drive

The move comes after the labor ministry said in 2022 it will allow companies to pay wages to digital payment apps from April 2023 in a bid to promote cashless payments as a way to stimulate the economy.

Easier to hide the endemic wage theft.

https://www.japan-press.co.jp/s/news/?id=10037

The "Big brotherification" of Japan keeps going unabated...

I'm surprised this requires government intervention, although the app protection may be welcomed by users. Some of the new fintechs, wannabe banks and digital currencies, have had issues, but if an employee asks to be paid in crypto, gold, coloured beads or whatever, it is their choice. I wonder if the chosen services have agreed to pass on data to the Japanese tax authorities as part of the clearance process.

I would never consent to this.

This is not going to end well for many people. Awesome for the companies! but I don't want to imagine walking around with my total salary in my hand, where everything is an easy BEEP away in every shop. Stick with cash!. Your future will thank you for it. And PAY OURSELF FIRST, not paypay and others. The biggest hint here is "it will stimulate the economy".This is another way of saying "stop saving". The country hasn't produced any more goods, it hasn't made any more money, we havent received a tax cut, we didn't earn earn anymore, so the only reason is the psychological element of it always being on hand,(app) with the reduced physical, psychological, and emotional pain of paying by digital, and not seeing real cash,along with the speed of purchasing. There isn't a psychological cooling off period to think, or slow down, and there certainly isn't the physical cooling off period for example, of only having 5000 yen in your wallet and hading it over. Consumer ,economic psychology is what will make people spend more, and the buzz of spending.

Everything is already digital anyway. BUT ITS VIA THE BANK or POSTOFFICE!

This could be useful for villagers who do not have access to a nearby bank or post office.

I would want my salary paid to my bank. I have not visited any of my banks in years. Online only.

Why multiply systems for getting paid while banks are international, insured, free if you choose well. I see no drawback since I can pay electronically by my bank card too. No benefit any from apps outside trying to scam you with taking some percentage of money for some services. But I am not in Japan so not sure if I could find the equivalent in Japan.

agree everything on-line only, then easier to apply individual security. More scams are coming, interesting to note.. with their consent! Does this avoid insurance issues?

This could be useful for villagers who do not have access to a nearby bank or post office.

If they live in areas that don't have basic services like banks and post offices then they also live in places that lack cashless payment infrastructure.

Plus the majority of the people living in those places are elderly folks many of whom don't know how to use smartphones, let alone QR code based cashless payment apps.....

Another brick in the wall as the government follows other countries in the drive toward a cashless society and a central bank digital currency. Where privacy is dead and organisations outside your control have the power to dictate what you spend your money on. It won't end well unless we refuse to comply.

We pay all of our bills with cash at the local store.

So the Softbank company owns the e-money company through which they want people to receive their salaries? And the e-money company skims 2-3% (or whatever it is) each time the employee buys something with the e-money app?

@Abe234, @Wallace, @Jonathan; you see what they're trying to do. I'll stick to buying things in person with cash, thank you very much. I know the shop owner gets what I pay and doesn't have to pay a spiff to a parasitical corporation.

I'm not enjoying the constant reliance on having a phone. I prefer payment by traditional means.

Ha, good luck with that. I’m in central tokyo and two of my local clinics only accept cash.

We pay all of our bills with cash at the local store.

Pretty happy Wallace, I could finally like one of your posts.

Well done :)

If a specific digital payment system is accepted by employer, employee and more important, by all money transaction participants when doing business with it, fine. Anyway, although not sure in detail, but I think also in Japan only BoJ issued coins and bills are the only legal and everywhere valid money. Payments into a digital account may be convenient, but one buys it with the risk that it is not accepted everywhere, and when it is then necessary to change it into any other digital money or cash, then also the convenience is quickly away again. But tell all that the digital lemmings..., a pure waste of time. lol

@wallace

Yes, I agree, cash is best.

ThonTaddeoOct. 21  12:28 pm JST

And the e-money company skims 2-3% (or whatever it is) each time the employee buys something with the e-money app?

@Abe234, @Wallace, @Jonathan; you see what they're trying to do. I'll stick to buying things in person with cash, thank you very much. I know the shop owner gets what I pay and doesn't have to pay a spiff to a parasitical corporation.

now that is the truth! The companies will pass all their costs onto the businesses, who will pass that onto the customers who continue to give all their salary to PayPay who have all that money sitting in THEIR account earning interest on our money, PayPay are very happy if there is a 1,2, or3 % increase in usage! Not to mention all those 50 yens, that stagnate in accounts not used for decades! Only the idiots and poor think this is great. Only the financial literate will understand the psychology behind all this. Increase the speed and convenience of purchase reduce the time for thinking, make it appear invisible and people spend more. We can’t save and spend the same yen . You either spend it, or save it? The most important is “habit building “ combined with cute animations, nice sounds, colors, points, make it game like, and over time it conditions the pleasure area of the brain. Not the same as physically handing over “pure cash” that can induce some psychological pain of paying or braking.A good book to start with is the psychology of money. It’s a good read and is more than just financial education.

Money is supposed to be real as it shall represent a part of an asset.

Many players try to make you think it is just a means with nodetermined value.