Consumption tax in Japan had increased from 8% to 10% on October 1, 2019, which means all residents of Japan will have to pay 4000 to 6000 yen extra per month for taxes. In order to reduce the burden of spending, the Japanese government launched the campaign for non-cash payment methods called キャッシュレス (Cashless). Specifically, a product can be discounted from 2% to 5% on the price listed at the checkout counter if the buyer uses credit cards, debit cards or e-wallet, payment apps etc.
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This article will summarize all the promotion campaigns which draw a great deal of the Japanese consumers’ attention, from the widely used payment apps, including PayPay, d払い, au Pay, R Pay and LINE Pay. Settings, registration, as well as linking to bank accounts for payment etc. can be found online with detailed instructions in photos and videos.
＼3週目🎉 4週連続 Coke ON キャンペーン😆／
10/7から11/3までの4週間、
Coke ONで100円以上のコカ・コーラ社製品を対応自販機で
Coke ONのスマホアプリを使って購入すると
毎週100円相当、4週間で最大400円相当が戻ってくるキャンペーン✨https://t.co/e4dWOfY7lB— PayPay株式会社 (@PayPayOfficial) October 21, 2019
The one-year anniversary campaign of cash-back from 20% to 100% on October 15 had some interruptions due to overload, but still PayPay currently has a significant amount of cooperating stores, supermarkets and restaurants that offer a PayPay payment. The promotion named まちかどペイペイ (MachikadoPayPay) will last until June 2020.
| Promotion campaign (link in Japanese only) | Detail |
|---|---|
| まちかどペイペイ (Machikado PayPay) | Cash back up to 10% of the payment amount to the balance on PayPay |
| Cash back 100 yen for payment on CokeON | Cash back 100 yen once per week when a customer buys a product costing more than 100 yen in any vending machine with “CokeON” sign. *You must use the CokeON app to pay with PayPay. |
| Cash back 15% | Cash back up to 10% of payment amount to the balance on PayPay |
d払い
10パーセント還元
エントリー要
11月1日から14 日まで
5000円購入4回の2万円まで pic.twitter.com/Dxy0emK93O— ポンクレさん (@elt197) October 23, 2019
Although the 20% cash back promotion campaign has already expired, users of d払い (d harai) can expect a new campaign in November 2019 for shopping at drug stores. The dカード, Docomo credit card, also offers great promotions for new cardholders.
| Promotion campaign (link in Japanese only) | Detail |
|---|---|
| Point back 10% at drug stores | Point back up to 10% of payment amount when customer makes payment by d払い at their cooperating drug stores such as Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Sugi or Cocoa etc. |
| Cash back 5% | Cash back 5% of payment amount for any payment made by dカード, from now until March 2020 |
au PAY（auペイ）、au携帯電話利用者と非利用者では何が違うのか｜ポイント還元に差はあるのか？#キャッシュレス #キャッシュレス還元https://t.co/RITKQpF8jV
— FINTIDE_JP (@FINTIDE_JP) October 17, 2019
Au Smart Pass Premium members (au mobile network users) will receive up to 20% points back. Even if you do not use the au mobile network, you can still use au Pay. With the number of au Pay users already exceeding 6,000,000, au Pay promises to have more campaigns to boost consumption in the future.
| Promotion campaign (link in Japanese only) | Detail |
|---|---|
| Santarou day | Cash back 20% of payment amount when customer makes payment by au Pay at their cooperating stores on the 3rd, 13th and 23rd each month. |
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With the large number of online stores on the Rakuten site, making payments with R Pay allows users to enjoy reward points for online shopping on Rakuten. From November, Rakuten also plans to give point back 5% for any online transaction at some shopping websites. The list will be extended in the future.
| Promotion campaign (link in Japanese only) | Detail |
|---|---|
| Point back 5% | Point back of 5% when a customer makes payment at convenience stores or drug stores who cooperate with Rakuten, regardless whether or not they registered for Cashless campaign |
| Point back 10% and 5％ at Sushiro | Point back of 10% for any bill over 1100 yen (tax included) at Sushiro (a chain of conveyor belt sushi restaurants), until November 1, 2019. After that, Rakuten continues the campaign with Sushiro, but as point back of 5%, with no limited expiry date of the program known so far. |
| Anniversary of cooperation between Seven-Eleven & R Pay | 150 points back (equivalent to 150 yen) for the first payment that’s more than 711 yen (tax included) in all Seven-Eleven convenience stores. Customers also have the chance to win 10,000 points with this campaign. |
＼🎉増税を吹き飛ばせ！最大12%戻ってくる🎉／#LINEPay 生活応援祭、開催中🎊‼️
10/18(金)～10/31(木)の期間中、お近くのスーパーやドラッグストアでLINE Payコード支払いを使うと最大12％付与😆❣️
▼詳細はこちらhttps://t.co/v56gUh6kAI pic.twitter.com/sq3Thwh1pn
— LINE Pay公式アカウント (@linepay_jp) October 18, 2019
LINE Pay is probably the easiest app to use because it also has an English version, but their promotions are still in Japanese. LINE points can be used to buy LINE stickers or to exchange into balance for payment. You can also send money to your friends with LINE balance, which is very convenient.
| Promotion campaign (link in Japanese only) | Detail |
|---|---|
| Cash back up to 12% from 18th Oct | Cash back 10%, plus the ranking point back up to 2%, means that customers can get 12% cash back for all payments made with LINE Pay, from 18th to 31st October 2019 |
| Cash back 7% | Cash back up to 5% from the Cashless campaign of the government, plus the ranking point back up to 2%, means that customers can get 12% cash back for all payments by LINE Pay, with no limited time. |
If you make good use of electronic wallets or payment apps, you can save quite a bit and won’t have to carry a lot of cash around, especially coins which weigh down your wallet. This is also an effective way to learn Japanese by reading the details of the promotional campaigns, so give it a try.
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It’s Your Loss If You Don’t Know About This Voluntary Tax System in Japan