iDA direct competitor to QUICPay, backed by a mobile carrier. It illustrates Japan's “osaifu-keitai” (wallet phone): NFC payments built into handsets as early as 2004–2005, a decade before Apple Pay.NTT Docomo · since 2005More than 2 million acceptance points in Japan (industry source, year not stated; not cross-checked)
Global registry · Asia-Pacific · East Asia
Japan Payment systems
35 systems listed.
CurrencyJapanese yen (JPY)
Domestic schemeJCB
RegulatorBank of Japan / FSA
Leading payment methods
Credit cardsPayPay & QR walletsCash / konbiniContactless prepaid (Suica)
E-commerce shares
Cards · 58%Wallets · 25%Cash · 8%Account-to-account · 5%Buy now, pay later · 2%Other · 2%
PayPay + konbini. PayPay (SoftBank), launched in 2018 with massive cash-back campaigns, has more than 68 million users and has made QR mainstream in a cash-loving country. Paying at the konbini (convenience store) and contactless transit cards (Suica, PASMO) remain institutions.
PayPay users>68M (2025)
Cashless payment ratio≈43% (2024, METI)
The government is pushing cashless payments (target: 40% of payments, reached in 2024). Credit cards dominate e-commerce, usually as single-payment charges settled monthly.
Learn about this market. The guides and courses that cover it.
Payments in JapanPayments in Oceania and CanadaPayments in Central AsiaPayments in South Asia outside IndiaPayments in Southeast AsiaPayments in Japan and KoreaAccepting payments in Australia and New ZealandAccepting payments in Indonesia and ThailandAccepting payments in Japan and South KoreaAccepting payments in Southeast AsiaPayments in Asia: super-apps, public rails, and cross-border QROpening a new market: the payments playbook
Card schemes
J-Debit (日本デビットカードシステム)Domestic point-of-sale debit that uses the bank's cash card directly. It is technically still live but has been largely displaced by internationally branded debit cards and QR payments. A textbook case of a domestic scheme on its way out.Japan Electronic Payment Promotion Organization (日本電子決済推進機構, JEPPO) · since 1999
JCB (Japan Credit Bureau)Apart from UnionPay, the only “international” card scheme to come out of East Asia. Issuing is concentrated in Asia. Acceptance outside Asia relies largely on the reciprocal alliance with Discover Global Network, which turned 20 in 2026. JCB also runs the QUICPay contactless wallet.JCB Co., Ltd. (a privately held Japanese company) · since 1961More than 175 million cardholders and about 71 million merchants in 195 countries and territories (JCB, 2025 communications); volume of about $410 billion in 2025 according to the aggregator coinlaw.io, NOT cross-checked against the Nilson Report
QUICPayPostpaid contactless scheme (linked to a credit card) built on FeliCa technology. Along with iD, it is one of Japan’s two proprietary NFC rails that coexist with EMV contactless.JCB Co., Ltd. · since 2005About 2.05 million acceptance points in Japan (industry source, year not stated, not cross-checked)
Instant payments
Cotra / ことら送金Japan’s bank-run P2P service: up to JPY 100,000 per transaction, free, addressed by phone number or email, on a dedicated low-value line of the Zengin System. It is the banks’ joint response to PayPay Send and the country’s only universal interbank P2P rail.Cotra Inc. (株式会社ことら) (cofounded by MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Mizuho Bank, and Resona Bank) · since 2022About JPY 2 trillion transferred cumulatively as of October 2025, up from JPY 1.5 trillion in June 2025; 418 participating institutions in February 2026; awareness of 28.7% and usage by 10.2% of the population (MMD Research, October 2025)
Zengin System (全銀システム)Japan’s retail credit transfer rail, near real-time since the 1970s, long before “instant payments” became fashionable. Two changes reshaped it: the Zengin More Time System (2018), which made it available 24/7, and its opening to nonbank payment institutions (funds transfer operators) from 2022. Transfers of ¥100 million or more are routed to BOJ-NET for RTGS settlement.Japanese Banks' Payment Clearing Network · Zengin-Net (全国銀行資金決済ネットワーク) (licensed under the Payment Services Act since Sept. 2010) · since 1973about 6.5 million transactions a day worth about ¥12 trillion a day (Zengin-Net, official “Clearing of Funds” page, accessed 2026)
Clearing and settlement
Bill and Cheque Clearing Systems (手形交換所)DiscontinuedThe 179 local clearing houses for bills and checks ceased operations on November 2, 2022, after 143 years. Since November 4, 2022, clearing has been handled nationwide by the Japanese Bankers Association’s Electronic Clearing House (電子交換所), where paper bills and checks are exchanged as images. That successor is itself scheduled to close in April 2027, the deadline for eliminating paper bills and checks in Japan.Local clearing houses run by bankers associations (Tokyo Bankers Association and others) · since 1879179 clearing houses closed on November 2, 2022, with the switch to the Electronic Clearing House on November 4, 2022 (Zenginkyo / Tokyo Shoko Research, 2022); closure of the Electronic Clearing House announced for April 2027 (Nikkei, 2025).
Wallets
7payDiscontinuedLaunched on July 1, 2019, and shut down on September 30, 2019, after a mass account takeover in its first days, blamed on the lack of two-factor authentication for password resets. Japan’s textbook case of a wallet killed by security failures, still cited in every risk review.Seven Pay Co. (Seven & i Holdings group) · since 2019
au PAYThe third major player in Japanese QR payments, backed by the au PAY Card and the neobank au Jibun Bank. Along with PayPay, Rakuten Pay, and d Barai, it took part in a cashback war estimated at about $1 billion in rewards in 2025.KDDI · since 2019
Bank Pay (バンクペイ)Japanese banks’ attempt to win back mobile payments: direct debit from the bank account via smartphone, built on the J-Debit infrastructure. Adoption has been weak against PayPay.Japan Electronic Payment Promotion Organization (JEPPO) · since 2020
d払い (d Payment)A mobile carrier’s QR wallet, tied to d POINT rewards and carrier billing. Together with au PAY, it shows the unusual weight of telecom operators in Japanese payments.NTT Docomo · since 2018
LINE Pay (Japan)DiscontinuedShut down on April 30, 2025, and merged into PayPay within the same group. Balance transfers to PayPay were open from January 27 to April 23, 2025 (limits of JPY 20,000 a day and JPY 100,000 in total), and remaining balances were refunded under the Payment Services Act. A consolidation case worth knowing, since many integration guides still refer to LINE Pay Japan. Note that LINE Pay is still active in Taiwan, as a separate entity.LY Corporation (formerly LINE / Z Holdings) · since 2014
MerpayWallet funded by sales proceeds on the Mercari C2C marketplace, an unusual way to fund a wallet: users spend what they have sold. It includes a deferred payment option (メルペイスマート払い).Merpay (Inc. (Mercari group)) · since 2019
Olive (SMBC)Unified account combining debit, credit, and prepaid on a single card, with the payment mode switched in the app. It is a Japanese bank’s answer to the fragmentation of payment instruments, and a model for banks in other markets to watch.Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation / Sumitomo Mitsui Card · since 2023
Origami PayDiscontinuedQR payment pioneer in Japan, knocked out by PayPay’s cashback war and absorbed by Mercari; the service closed in 2020. It shows how brutal the consolidation of Japan’s QR market was.Origami Inc. (acquired by Mercari in 2020) · since 2016
PayPayThe clear winner of Japan’s QR war, bankrolled by a massive cashback campaign. It absorbed LINE Pay Japan in 2025 and has announced a US IPO and a partnership with Visa. A Japanese merchant that accepts only one QR code accepts PayPay.PayPay Corporation (SoftBank / LY Corporation group) · since 201870 million registered users as of July 15, 2025 (PayPay press release), about 55% of the population; about 72 million registered users and about 40 million monthly transacting users as of Dec. 2025; roughly two-thirds of Japan’s code payment market (industry analyses 2025, unofficial)
Rakuten PayQR wallet built on the Rakuten Points loyalty program, itself a near-currency in Japan. Its strength is the ecosystem effect (e-commerce, banking, telecom, cards) rather than cashback alone.Rakuten Payment (Inc. (Rakuten group)) · since 2016
ゆうちょPayQR payment wallet linked to a Japan Post Bank account, alongside Yucho Debit (ゆうちょDebit) and JP BANK cards. Operational alert: the bank has announced that Yucho Pay (ゆうちょPay) will shut down in December 2026. Merchants or integrators who still see it in an acceptance matrix should plan to remove it, even though far smaller wallets are carrying on.株式会社ゆうちょ銀行 (bank in the Japan Post group, with one of Japan’s largest deposit account networks)
Interoperable QR
JPQRJapan’s unified QR standard, which lets a merchant display a single code for several providers. Its major extension is “JPQR Global,” launched on July 5, 2025, at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai site. It connects JPQR to foreign QR standards, starting with KHQR (Cambodia), then QRIS (Indonesia) from August 17, 2025.Payments Japan Association (キャッシュレス推進協議会) (at the initiative of METI) · since 2019
Network of 10 interoperable transit IC cards (交通系ICカード全国相互利用)A nationwide interoperability agreement among 10 regional prepaid schemes: a card bought in Fukuoka works in Sapporo. The system relies entirely on FeliCa contactless technology (NFC-F), with no QR codes involved. One nuance: PiTaPa (Kansai) is the only postpaid card in the group, with partial interoperability outside transit.Interoperability agreement among JR East, JR West, JR Central, JR Kyushu, JR Hokkaido, and the private operators behind Suica, PASMO, ICOCA, TOICA, SUGOCA, Kitaca, manaca, PiTaPa, nimoca, and Hayakaken (はやかけん). · since 2013
Buy now, pay later
NP後払い (NP Atobarai) and atoneThe world pioneer of deferred invoice payment in e-commerce, launched in 2002, three years before Klarna was founded. The seller is guaranteed payment, and the buyer pays on receipt at a konbini (convenience store) or by bank transfer. Essential to understanding why Western-style BNPL has little room in Japan.Net Protections, Inc. · since 2002
PaidyBNPL with no card and no heavy upfront credit check: the buyer later pays a consolidated monthly bill, often in cash at a konbini. Paying bills at convenience stores is a Japanese specificity, and it explains the success of deferred payment in a population with few credit cards used for e-commerce.Paidy Inc. (PayPal subsidiary since 2021 (acquired for $2.7 billion)) · since 2014More than 700,000 merchants, including Amazon and Qoo10 (figure cited by Wikipedia without a primary source, not cross-checked)
Acquiring and processing
CAFIS (Credit And Finance Information System)Japan’s long-established and dominant card authorization network, run by a telecom operator rather than by the banks. Every card integration in Japan goes through CAFIS, which is also why acceptance costs have historically been high.NTT Data · since 1984
統合ATMスイッチングサービス (Integrated ATM Switching Service)The national hub that interconnects the ATM networks of Japan’s different banking associations, live since January 4, 2004. It replaced the earlier stack (BANCS for the major banks, ACS for regional banks, and MICS to link them), whose layered structure had become inefficient. Since 2005 it has also handled payee account verification before transfers, and since 2014 a batch version for payroll.NTT Data (developed and operated by Japan’s long-established payments IT operator on behalf of the participating banking associations) · since 2004
CARDNET (日本カードネットワーク)Japan’s second card authorization switch, alongside CAFIS. The operator describes its business as switching authorization data, transmitting sales data, supporting merchant settlement, and handling outsourced issuer functions. Its coexistence with CAFIS explains why Japanese card routing is fragmented. Note: contrary to what is often written, the company was not founded in the 1980s but incorporated on March 16, 1995.株式会社日本カードネットワーク (Japan Card Network Co., Ltd. A joint venture of the Japanese card industry: shareholders reported as of June 30, 2025, include JCB, NTT Data, Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos, TIS, Sumitomo Mitsui Card, AEON Financial Service, Orient Corporation, Credit Saison, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Club, Jaccs, UCS, and Life Card, plus two merchant federations. NTT Data, which operates CAFIS, is therefore also a CARDNET shareholder.) · since 1995Capital of ¥480 million and 380 employees as of March 31, 2025, including seconded staff (日本カードネットワーク, 2025)
Cross-border rails
FXYCS · Foreign Exchange Yen Clearing System (外国為替円決済制度)The system that settles the yen leg of FX transactions and cross-border payments. Anyone handling cross-border JPY goes through FXYCS, not Zengin.Tokyo Bankers Association, technically run on BOJ-NET · since 1980About ¥17 trillion per business day in 2018 (Bank of Japan); no more recent figure could be cross-checked
Central bank digital currency
Digital yen (デジタル円)PilotSince April 2023, the BoJ has run a Pilot Program that brings in the private sector through a CBDC Forum, following two proof-of-concept phases (2021–2023). No issuance decision has been made, and the BoJ explicitly makes any launch conditional on a legal framework and public debate. A case study in a deliberately slow CBDC.Bank of Japan
Other
BOJ-NET Funds Transfer System (日銀ネット)The yen RTGS system and the final settlement asset for every other Japanese system. It moved to full RTGS with queuing and bilateral/multilateral offsetting in the Next-Generation RTGS project (2008–2011), and the technical overhaul was completed in 2015–2016.Bank of Japan · since 1988
Densai Net / でんさいネット (全銀電子債権ネットワーク)Electronically recorded monetary claims (電子記録債権) that replace paper B2B bills and checks: no stamp duty, no risk of losing the instrument, and the option to discount. It is the infrastructure behind the Japanese authorities’ decision to phase out paper.Zengin Electronic Monetary Claims Network Co. (Ltd., a subsidiary of the Japanese Bankers Association) · since 2013¥50.09 trillion in requests processed and 569,854 registered companies (densai.net, 2025 data)
nanacoClosed-loop e-money tied to a single retail group (7-Eleven, Ito-Yokado). Together with WAON, it illustrates Japan’s retailer-issued prepaid model, which barely exists in Europe.Seven Card Service Co. (Seven & i Holdings group) · since 2007
Carrier billing (キャリア決済)Carrier billing remains a full-fledged payment method in Japan (digital content, games, subscriptions), whereas it has all but disappeared in Europe. Plan for it in any Japanese e-commerce integration.NTT Docomo (d払い/ドコモ払い), KDDI (auかんたん決済), SoftBank (まとめて支払い) · since 2000
PASMOSuica’s counterpart for the Tokyo subway and private railways, interoperable with Suica from the start. Japan’s second-largest e-money card.PASMO Co. (Ltd. (consortium of private transit operators in the Tokyo area)) · since 2007~43 million cards issued (2025 figure from industry sources, not cross-checked with PASMO Co.)
Rakuten EdyJapan’s first prepaid e-money on FeliCa, used at merchants before Suica. Acquired by Rakuten in 2009–2010 and folded into its points ecosystem.Rakuten Edy, Inc. (originally bitWallet) · since 2001
SuicaPrepaid e-money on FeliCa that started in transit and became a general-purpose proximity payment method. In March 2025, JR East launched “Welcome Suica Mobile” for iPhone for visitors (valid for 180 days, with Shinkansen e-ticket purchases since fall 2025) and announced a major overhaul of Suica into a broader payment service.East Japan Railway Company (JR East) · since 2001112 million cards issued and 33 million Mobile Suica accounts (JR East data, 2025)
WAONThe prepaid card of Japan’s largest retailer, accepted well beyond its own stores (FamilyMart, McDonald’s). It also comes in regional versions designed to support local public programs.AEON Group (AEON Financial Service) · since 2007More than 1,243,000 acceptance points in Japan (industry source, year not specified, not cross-checked)