Making a payment in the most populated city in the world can be surprisingly difficult. For the 37 million people living in Tokyo, and the 15.2 million inbound travellers who visited the city in 2019 before the pandemic, the primary payment method was cash. Indeed, the Tokyo tourism board advises international travellers to carry cash at all times. In a world rapidly embracing frictionless payments and real-time transactions, the hi-tech city looks strangely old fashioned. In recognition of the challenges faced across the banking and finance spaces, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government launched the Tokyo Financial Award (TFA) to encourage innovation in financial products and services. The award has a specific payments category, aiming to tackle issues raised by residents and businesses in Tokyo in their use of digital payments in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions. The results of the survey identified issues around the lack of interoperability between electronic money (e-money) apps, the lack of cashless payment methods beside e-money, and the fact that credit cards are still not accepted in all stores. Further, concerns were raised about the level of security to prevent theft and stop unauthorised use of credit cards and smartphones. The level of fees paid to use various payment methods was also seen as problematic.
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