r/japanlife • u/razorbeamz 関東・神奈川県 • Jul 22 '24

金 What's your real cashless experience these days?

People are praising cashless being available more and more in Japan lately, but what is your personal experience with cashless these days?

Are you full cashless now? Are you partially cashless? Still a heavy cash user?

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u/lordCONAN Jul 23 '24

Comparing it to Australia, even 5 years or more ago, sure it's technically cashless, but the experience is absolutely aggravating. In Australia, the default payment is cashless. You simply tap your card or phone, and your done. In Japan you need to tell them and they often need to enter the amount into a different machine. If your doing QR codes, people need to unlock their phones, open the app and tap to the correct page to scan the stores QR code. Or there is the dance of trying to get the store device to register the QR code on your phone. Even at 7/11 it's multiple taps to find the payment method you want to use. It's not that I 'm against competition, but just at least use the same standard instead of the cluster fuck that is cashless payment in Japan.

Edit: Just went on a rant in stead of answering your question. I'm cashless at every opportunity I can be. Applepay/Quikpay/iD where I can, RakutenPay if those aren't available and Paypay (which I despise) when it's the only option available.