Japan’s affinity for cash has made it a relative laggard in adopting digital payments, especially compared to neighbors like Korea and China. Japan only broke the 30% milestone for cashless payments in 2021, partially due to the pandemic. In contrast, Korea was almost 94% cashless in 2020, while China was not far behind at 83%, according to the World Economic Forum.
That said, given Japan’s large market size of 126 million and unhurried adoption of digital payments, there remains ample low-hanging fruit that dozens of payments providers are eager to pluck. The sheer array of e-payment options in Japan – some which have emerged only in the last few years – is staggering, and has led to a fragmented market where it is difficult for any of the competing firms to gain commanding market share.
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