Do You Still Need Cash in Japan? "A Friend of Mine Flatly Refuses to Take Cards at His Shop"

What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 4,553 comments

• Is there any need for a shop that doesn't see the cost-benefit to go out of its way to add cashless payment? It's a charge for a service. A popular shop won't lose customers by taking cash only.

  費用対効果が感じられない店はわざわざキャッシュレス導入しなくて良くないか？サービスの対価なんだから。人気店は現金払いのみでも顧客は離れないよ。

  — @ねるる-i5g623 likes

• In America the VISA and MASTER fees are only 0.2 to 0.8%. In Japan the fees are overwhelmingly higher. If they want more card payments they'll have to bring the fees down to American levels.

  アメリカではVISAやMASTERの手数料は0.2～0.8%しかない。日本は圧倒的に手数料が高い。カード決済を増やしたいならアメリカ並みに手数料を低くしないとだめだろう。

  — @kazunorimiura3526Most liked928 likes

• No way, don't tell lies. Even FB is 1.86%. If a company like that existed the big players would be offering it. Tell me if there is one, ha.

  そんな訳、無い嘘はあかん・・・FBでさえ、1.86％ そんな会社あったら大手が提供してるわ、あるなら教えてくれ笑

  — @OFFCEXXX35 likes

• For the people who don't realize there's a card fee: how do they think card companies make a profit?

  カード手数料があると思ってない人は、カード会社がどうやって利益出してると思ってるのか。

  — @けい-i3q318 likes

• That strange supermarket Cosmos that says nothing but cash is doing perfectly well. Because it's cheap.

  現金以外ダメと言う不思議なスーパーコスモス、普通に流行ってますよ。 安いからね。

  — @herakoiherakoi435 likes

• More and more of the really cheap supermarkets are going cash-only.

  激安スーパーなんかは現金オンリーのところも増えてきてますね

  — @test-taroro228 likes

• There really are a lot of cash-only shops among the cheap supermarkets. The margins are so thin that if they paid the fee there'd be no profit left. And customers gather there too, the ones who'd rather pay cash than have prices go up because of cashless payment.

  激安スーパーだと現金オンリーな店結構ありますよね あまりに薄利多売だから手数料払ったら、利益がなくなってしまうとね 利用者もキャッシュレス決済のせいで値上げするくらいなら 現金でも良いよってお客が集まってる

  — @syou999142 likes

• The cash-only supermarket Lopia is popular with young families and doing a roaring trade. Prices are low because there's no fee.

  現金オンリーのスーバーロピア若い家族に人気で繁盛してますよ。手数料ない分価格が安いから

  — @rikoa-d5v124 likes

• The Lopia near me is cash-only.

  うちの近くのロピアは現金払いのみだよ

  — @Pluie-t3z82 likes

• There are retailers where cashless payment only works at the self-checkout and the staffed registers are cash only, and that's a good approach. Carrying both the fee and the labour cost isn't viable any more.

  小売りでもキャッシュレスはセルフレジでのみ使えて、有人レジは現金オンリーみたいなとこあるけど、あれはいい方法だよね 手数料と人件費の二重負担はもう無理でしょう

  — @canchuhai131 likes

• Adding a surcharge for cards is a no-no, but a cash discount is fine, apparently...

  クレカ上乗せはNGだけど現金値引きはセーフという、、、

  — @Natsu_orange81 likes

• The shop near me is cash only, but it had a sign up saying it keeps prices down in exchange. Either way the shop carries the cost.

  近所の店現金のみだけどその分安くしますって張り紙してた。どちらにせよ店側の負担になる

  — @青-v4u47 likes

• There are loads of shops I won't go to if they aren't cashless.

  キャッシュレスじゃないならいかない店ってたくさんあるよ

  — @totororin53 likes

• Even among cashless users there are the ones who won't go if they can't use it and the ones who just use it because it's convenient and would still come with cash, so in the end it comes down to whether you have the appeal to grow the second group.

  キャッシュレス利用者にも ・キャッシュレス使えないなら行かない層 ・便利だから使ってるだけで、現金でも通う層 がいるから、結局は後者を増やす魅力があるかどうか、でしょうね。

  — @右手が痛い49 likes

• I pay by card or e-money almost all the time, but honestly, if a shop is cash only I'll just pay cash. I only use cashless because it's there.

  俺はほとんどカード or 電子マネーだけど 正直、現金のみの店だったら普通に現金で払うよ キャッシュレスが使えるから使っているだけだし

  — @user-e2m1-9e89 likes

• We're a family-run shop, so we ask customers to cooperate with cash only. From the customer's side cashless is more convenient, isn't it. In exchange we throw in a little extra with the goods, or knock off the last ten yen or so.

  うちは個人商店なので現金のみでご協力いただています。消費者側からしたらキャッシュレスの方が便利ですよね〜。 その分品物におまけつけたり、10円程度の端数まけたりしています。

  — @もも-to121233 likes

• Cash-only has its drawbacks too. To have change ready you have to go to the bank, pay a money-changing fee and get the coins in. It's especially hard on businesses working in single yen. Changing a hundred 1-yen coins now costs several hundred yen. Some banks charge a fee to deposit coins as well. Which one you pick is the owner's call, but weighing up the time and effort, maybe cashless is an option after all.

  現金のみでもデメリットはあります お釣りを用意するために金融機関まで行って両替手数料を支払い小銭を用意しないといけない とくに1円単位の商売されているところだと大変です 1円玉100枚両替するのに数百円の手数料がかかるようになりました 口座に入金するのも硬貨だと手数料がかかる金融機関もあります どちらを選択するかは店主様の判断でしょうが手間と労力を考えるとキャッシュレスもありなのかなと思います

  — @taisakurana19 likes

• I run a small restaurant and we're cash only. If we brought in cashless we'd have to put prices up, and there's the lease on the terminal. Customers who don't know go home grumbling that it's inconvenient.

  小さな飲食店してますが 現金のみです😣 キャッシュレス入れたらその分値上げになるだろうし機器のリース料もいるし 知らないお客さんは 不便って不服をゆって帰るけど😓

  — @gigigagado9 likes

• I'll make a point of using cash at small shops. And places like Joyful Honda where you can't use a credit card are clearly cheaper, so I'll use those cash shops as much as I can.

  小規模店舗にはなるべく現金を使うようにします。また、ジョイフル本田とかクレジットカードが使えないお店は明らかに安いので、できるだけそのような現金のお店を利用するようにします。

  — @ytyamada133 likes

• It's hard on small shops, so I pay in cash. The shop told me cash helps them.

  小店舗は大変、俺は現金で払っている、店から現金だと助かると言われたので

  — @3s-gte32236 likes

• At shops run by people I know, and especially at owner-run shops I want to support, I make a point of paying cash even though it's a hassle.

  知り合いのお店や特に応援したい個人経営のお店では面倒でも現金で払うようにしてる😢

  — @Bbbwerth19 likes

• SaveLopia↗ロピア

  A discount supermarket chain named twice by commenters as cash-only and busy anyway. "The Lopia near me is cash-only," one writes (82 likes); another (124 likes) says it is packed with young families precisely because prices stay low with no fee to pay. As of the comments in 2024. Check the register signage.

• SaveDrug Store Cosmos↗ドラッグストアコスモス

  The most-liked shop example (435 likes) calls this chain strange for refusing everything but cash, and then adds: it's thriving, because it's cheap. As of the comments in 2024.

• SaveJoyful Honda↗ジョイフル本田

  A large home-center chain one commenter (33 likes) groups with the shops that don't take cards and are obviously cheaper for it, and says he goes to them on purpose. As of the comments in 2024.

Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.

Do you still need cash in Japan?

Yes, carry some. Japan is past the halfway mark on cashless payment but nowhere near cashless: METI put the 2025 figure at 58.0% of consumer spending under its new domestic measure, or 46.3% on the older international-comparison one. Either way a large share of spending still moves as cash, and Japanese commenters name where it goes: discount supermarkets, small owner-run restaurants and shops that would rather stay cash-only than pass a fee on to every price.

Sources: meti.go.jp · watch.impress.co.jp — checked 2026-08-28

Why do so many Japanese shops refuse credit cards?

The merchant fee. The most-liked explanation (928 likes) is that Japanese card fees run far above what American merchants pay, and one small-restaurant owner (9 likes) says adding card payment would mean either putting prices up or covering the lease on the terminal. For scale: when the government subsidized cashless for small merchants in 2019 to 2020, it made participating payment firms cap the merchant fee at 3.25% and paid a third of it.

Sources: meti.go.jp — checked 2026-08-28

Can a shop in Japan charge extra for paying by card?

It is not supposed to. JCB states plainly that its merchant contracts prohibit adding a surcharge, and that it gives corrective guidance to merchants who do it. What happens instead runs the other way, which one commenter (81 likes) sums up as cards can't be surcharged but cash can be discounted: a neighborhood shop stays cash-only and puts up a sign saying it keeps prices down in exchange (47 likes), or throws in a little extra and rounds the last ten yen away (33 likes).

Sources: j-faq.jcb.co.jp — checked 2026-08-28

How do you know before you queue whether a Japanese shop takes cards?

Look for the payment stickers at the door or on the register, and treat cheapness as a warning sign. Cash-only shops announce it over the store PA and people still reach the register with a card out, one commenter says (27 likes). Two more patterns worth knowing: some chains accept cards only at the self-checkout and keep staffed lanes cash-only (131 likes), and where a card is accepted, the tap reader and the chip slot can be different deals for the shop and for your points (71 and 41 likes).