cross-posted from: https://jlai.lu/post/6118881
An illustration of the "ultra free" market in Japan, is the insane amount of ways to pay at the cashier. It seems every financial group thought they could do better than the other, and for some reason I don't understand, they didn't eat each other, they just coexist.
The main categories are: bank card, payment apps connected to bank account, transportation cards, electronic money. They may work through card reader, no-contact, bar code scan or QR code scan. For the last two, you are either scanned or you have to scan them.
Also, Japan loves "points". If you know the cashback system, where you get something like 1% of your bill back, in Japan they usually get points back, which are of course limited to shops accepting those points. So on top of payment methods you also have a dozen of points system, either specific to the shop brand or from a different company that may have agreements with different merchants.
Despite that, cash remains essential, it's very common to end up in a restaurant that only accepts cash, even the convenience of paying your house bills at the konbini requires cash.
The last time my debit card got compromised my bank just told me to use Google Pay until my new card arrived and so that's all I've really used since. Signing up for 10 different electronic payment options just seems like your either asking to have your identity stolen or will be bankrupted eventually by hidden fees surcharges and monthly subscription costs