Swipe Your Way to Dotonbori: Osaka Airport to Dotonbori Now Just a Credit Card Tap Away

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  Ahead of the Osaka Expo, focus on digitalization such as subway credit card payment machines
  “Credit cards can be used at most train stations in Kansai until March next year.”
  From analog to digital… Can Japan complete its 10,000-year task?

“Korea doesn’t know Japan too well, and Japan knows Korea too well.
Japan’s inner landscape, Salim, 2014
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Domestic media outlets often only convey stories about Japan, our closest neighbor, mainly on politics, economics, and major social issues. A reporter who majored in Japanese in college, did an exchange study in Japan, loves Japanese food, and enjoys Japanese movies and animation will tell you stories that are really ‘hot’ in Japan right now, and that are hard to find in Korea.

‘Tokyo Communications in the corner of the room’starting now.

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A passenger touches a credit card on the ticket gate payment machine at a subway station in Japan./IT Media

‘Analog Kingdom’ Japanese people still use cash when using public transportation such as trains and buses. It is common to obtain an IC card for public transportation, such as Korean T-money, Pasmo, or Suica, and load it with cash.

Foreign tourists visiting Japan for a one-time visit must purchase a one-time boarding pass from the ticket machine in front of the ticket gate. Foreigners who do not know Japanese are not familiar with how to use ticket machines, so subway stations in popular tourist destinations such as Tokyo and Osaka are often crowded with foreigners lining up in long lines in front of ticket machines.

NHK and others recently reported that in Japan, ahead of the Osaka-Kansai International Expo (hereinafter referred to as Osaka Expo), which opens in April next year, the number of subway stations that accept credit cards rather than cash is increasing. One of the slogans of this year’s Osaka Expo is ‘Completely Cashless.’ Cashless refers to a cashless payment method. The plan is to establish a system that does not require the use of cash at the Expo venue located on the artificial island ‘Yumeshima’ in Konohana-ku, Osaka.

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A promotional poster for the ‘Osaka-Kansai International Expo’, which will open next year, is hanging at Kansai International Airport in Japan./AFP Yonhap News

In line with this Expo policy, railway companies in the Kansai region, including Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara, are also equipped with touch-type payment facilities that allow payment with credit cards at the ticket gates of subway stations. It is said that the four major companies, including Kinki-Nippon Railway, Hankyu Railway, Osaka Metro, and Hanshin Electric Railway, completed installation at 548 subway stations within their jurisdiction on the 29th of last month. There are 6 credit card brands available, including VISA and JCB.

The goal is to increase the convenience of tourists by allowing them to use public transportation with credit cards that are also used overseas, and to reduce congestion at crowded subway stations. In particular, the Osaka Expo, which opens next year, is expected to attract 28 million visitors, so the goal is to prevent expected congestion ahead of the event.

Previously, Nankai Electric Railway, which operates routes including Osaka Kansai Airport Station and Namba Station, introduced credit card touch-type payment machines at 42 stations, about half of the routes under its jurisdiction, in 2021. Nankai Electric Railway plans to increase this to 87 stations within the year.

Satoshi Kajitani, director of Nankai Electric Railway, told NHK, “(After installation in 2021), congestion at ticket counters has eased significantly, especially at train stations with a high rate of use by foreign tourists.” The Nippon Keizai Shimbun reported, “By the end of March next year (just before the opening of the Osaka Expo), credit cards will be available at 780 stations, or 66% of the Kansai region subway stations.”

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Dotonbori, a tourist attraction in Osaka, Japan. You can get there within 5 minutes on foot from Namba Station./Chosun Ilbo DB

Will digitalization, one of the age-old challenges of Japanese society, be able to make progress starting with the Osaka Expo? Credit card giant Visa visited a food festival held in Osaka last September and installed credit card payment machines that were unfamiliar to local residents. Another credit card company, American Express, also promoted ‘cashless payment’ at a local small business food and general store event held in Osaka in the same month. Local media reports that “as success stories (of cashless payments) accumulate, a cashless society is getting closer.”

Nagoya, Japan’s third-largest city after Tokyo and Osaka, recently introduced a public transportation payment system that allows passengers to ride with a credit card. Nagoya Railway, which led this, told TV Aichi last month, “We want to ensure that people who do not have an IC card (for public transportation), such as tourists visiting from overseas, can use the railway comfortably. “We will continue to increase the number of ticket gates where (credit cards) can be used.”

<img src="https://thumbnews.nateimg.co.kr/view610///news.nateimg.co.kr/orgImg/ch/2024/11/06/ch_1730819164660_788778_3.jpg" onerror="this.src=" onload="checkChangeImg(this);" alt="A citizen in Tokyo, Japan, is applying for a Japanese version of the resident registration card, ‘My Number Card.’ / Yonhap News”/>View larger image

A citizen in Tokyo, Japan, is applying for a Japanese version of the resident registration card, ‘My Number Card.’ / Yonhap News

The central government is also tightening its shoelaces to realize a ‘digital society’. A representative example is the ‘My Number Card’ project. It is an integrated ID card that identifies individuals introduced in 2016. It is equivalent to a Korean resident registration card.

The Japanese government has made it a priority to distribute My Number Cards to all citizens in order to escape the analog era. The purpose is to smoothly promote other digital policies by integrating scattered national information systems such as health insurance cards and driver’s licenses. However, the penetration rate was low due to social concerns about personal information leaks. Two out of 10 people have not even received it, let alone used it.

<img src="https://thumbnews.nateimg.co.kr/view610///news.nateimg.co.kr/orgImg/ch/2024/11/06/ch_1730819164661_566354_4.jpg" onerror="this.src=" onload="checkChangeImg(this);" alt="Japanese health insurance card. Starting next month (December 2024), it will be integrated with the ‘My Number Card’, which is equivalent to a Korean resident registration card./manekomi.tmn-anshin.co.jp”/>View larger image

Japanese health insurance card. Starting next month (December 2024), it will be integrated with the ‘My Number Card’, which is equivalent to a Korean resident registration card./manekomi.tmn-anshin.co.jp

Accordingly, the government has decided to launch the so-called ‘My Number Insurance Card’ system, which integrates the health insurance card with the My Number card, starting this December. To go to a medical institution, you need to bring your health insurance card, and the goal is to increase the penetration rate by replacing this with the My Number card. You can use your existing insurance card for a one-year trial period starting next month, but after that, you will not be able to receive treatment without your My Number card. In fact, issuance becomes an ‘obligation’.

The point of future attention will be how much Japan, which has stagnated in an analog society with cash, fax machines, and stamps, can accelerate as a ‘digital latecomer’. The Japanese people are not entirely welcoming of the sudden digitalization, so the key is how the government and other authorities will persuade them. If you are planning a trip to Osaka right now, why not try using the newly introduced credit card payment machine on the way from Kansai International Airport to Dotonbori?

On November 6, in the 63rd corner, Tokyo News reported on the story of Japan focusing on digitalization ahead of next year’s Osaka Expo. We’ll be back next week with the hottest stories in Japan.

Check out the links to episodes 61 and 62 below.

The reason why Chinese tourists are ‘open’ at the Tokyo driver’s license examination center ☞ chosun.com/international/japan/2024/10/23/QEIQ2D5NCBF5RKQRZNUDVJ4R7A/

‘500 won coin’ rings among Japanese self-employed people ☞ chosun.com/international/japan/2024/10/30/TTKB4DTMYBBTPTMILTC4RY52Q6I/

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Reporter Kim Dong-hyeon boy@chosun.com