In 2023, cashless payments accounted for around 39.3 percent of the private final consumption expenditure in Japan. The cashless payment ratio increased by 3.3 percentage points year on year.
Most popular payment methods
Credit cards were the cashless payment method with the highest transaction value throughout the past decade. They were followed by QR code payments and electronic money. Electronic money is a contactless payment method based on NFC technology, which can be used via smartphones or IC smartcards. E-money was introduced as early as 2001 and is widely used to pay transportation fees or purchases at vending machines and shops. The value of prepaid e-money transactions in Japan reached around 6.4 trillion Japanese yen in 2023.
Rising popularity of QR-code payments
QR-code payment services replaced electronic money as the second-most popular payment method for the first time in 2022. They allow consumers to perform financial transactions by issuing or scanning a QR code or bar code with a smartphone app. The service can be topped up with cash or linked to credit cards or bank accounts. Pushed by the government’s cashless promotion campaign in 2019 and the need to avoid contact during the coronavirus pandemic, the popularity of services like PayPay and Rakuten Pay has rapidly increased in recent years.
