Ultimate Lifehack Guide to Cashless Payments in Japan

In general, tourists have one of two options for cashless payments: IC Cards and Credit Cards.

As mentioned in our Ultimate Lifehack Guide to IC Cards in Japan, transportation IC Cards are the main form of cashless payment used for riding the transportation system in Japan. Nowadays, most buses and trains take IC cards as the main form of payment. You can easily buy IC cards at any major train station, usually from the automated ticketing machines at a ¥500 deposit.

Apart from riding the trains, many shops like convenience stores or restaurants also take IC Cards as payment options, allowing you to just tap it on the reader. If you see the logos for IC Card payment at the cashier, then just tell them “Suica De” (スイカで lit. by Suica). Technically the correct term for IC Cards would be “Koutsu IC Kado De” (交通ICカードで lit. by transportation IC Card), but Suica is generally well-known across Japan and is easier to say and recognize by staff.

Japanese shops that accept credit card payment allow the use of card or chip payment, and then a signature if your card does not have a PIN on it. Be sure to sign the back of your card as oftentimes Japanese staff will check for it, and ask you to sign the card on the spot if you haven’t. Typically, Visa and Mastercard are accepted at most stores, with some others also accepting JCB, American Express, Diners Club and Union Pay.

If you wanted to use NFC tap payments like Visa Paywave and Mastercard Paypass, adoption is still rather slow in Japan. There are two types of tap credit card payment options in Japan, NFC and Felica. With Felica being the Japanese standard also used in transportation IC Cards. As such, the Japanese version of Apple Pay uses Felica like ID and QuickPay. Overseas card users cannot use Felica payment systems other than IC cards. Overseas Android phones are not equipped with the Felica hardware. So despite there being an Apple Pay or Google Pay, if you don't have a Felica-compatible card in your digital wallet, it will not work.

Since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics though, adoption of NFC payments like Visa Paywave has been steadily increasing. At shops where you see the familiar Paywave logo, you should be able to tap your Visa Paywave or Mastercard Paypass card as usual including for Apple Pay and Google Pay users.

Most retail shops should not have a problem with debit cards or overseas-issued credit/debit cards. Online purchases on Japanese sites, however, tend to run into more problems with non-Japanese issued cards. Additionally, some services such as gas stations would accept only credit cards and reject debit cards. So do take note of this restriction and always have some cash on hand if needed.

The use of mobile or QR code payments has been steadily rising in Japan, in particular with PayPay, the most common QR code payment app in Japan. It’s not uncommon to find shops that only accept either cash or PayPay. Unfortunately, PayPay is only restricted to Japanese users with a Japanese phone number, and likewise there currently aren’t any QR code payment options available to foreign tourists.

The exception to this is users of Alipay and WeChat Pay, there are many shops that accept these two mobile payment options. For users of those services, just look out for the logos at the cashier.

In conclusion, the best option for tourists to use cashless payments in Japan is to get a transportation IC Card. You might be tempted to just stick to cash, but Japan’s coin denominations go down to a ¥1 yen coin, and with tax, you often find yourself purchasing stuff at small denominations like ¥102 products that would leave you wishing you had used cashless payments instead of receiving ¥98 yen in coins. Additionally, most vending machines don’t take anything smaller than ¥10 coins, so you might find it difficult to get rid of coins, or even embarrassed at the cashier as you count out your ¥1 yen coins.