QR Code Payments in Japan

QR code payments in Japan let residents pay with a smartphone barcode instead of cash or a physical card.¹² They matter because smaller restaurants, market stalls, and regional shops often accept a QR code where they still reject credit cards, while campaigns add rotating point rebates on top.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the PayPay, Rakuten Pay, and d Payment official sites and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry cashless statistics page.

Overview

QR code payments in Japan are app-based code payments for street shops, online stores, and bill payment.² The four names residents meet most are PayPay, LINE Pay, Rakuten Pay, and d Payment, though LINE Pay ended its Japan service in April 2025 and now survives only as a transfer and refund story.³

Japan's cashless payment ratio reached 42.8 percent, or 141.0 trillion yen (as of 2025-03-31; confirm current figures with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry).¹ Code payments were 9.6 percent of that cashless total, or 13.5 trillion yen (as of 2025-03-31).¹ Acceptance is uniform nationwide in system terms. Individual shops still decide whether to switch QR payment on at the register.

How QR Code Payments Work

Two register flows and two funding models cover almost every QR payment in Japan. Learn these once and every app below behaves the same way at the counter.

User-scan versus store-scan

In the show-code flow, you open the app, tap the Pay button, and the cashier scans the barcode on your screen.² Convenience stores, supermarkets, and chain restaurants mostly use this flow.

In the store-scan flow, you scan the shop's printed QR code, type the amount, and confirm on your phone.² Smaller counters and market stalls mostly use this flow because they need no terminal hardware.

Balance charge versus linked card

In the balance model, you charge funds first and then spend them in one-yen units.⁴ In the card-direct model, each payment draws from the registered credit card without a prior charge.⁵

PayPay spends prefunded balance in a fixed order: PayPay Money Light first, then salary Money, then PayPay Money (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with PayPay).⁴ PayPay Money moves to a bank account and between users, while PayPay Money Light pays at shops but never cashes out to a bank.⁴

Term	Reading	Meaning
コード決済	kōdo kessai	Code payment, the industry term for QR and barcode app payments1
チャージ	chāji	Charge, prefunding an app balance from a bank, card, or ATM cash4
PayPay残高	PayPay zandaka	PayPay balance, the prefunded spendable balance inside PayPay4

The Four Major Apps

The four apps differ by operator, ecosystem, and current status rather than by register mechanics. The table below gives the neutral comparison; the subsections add the details that change what a resident actually does.

App	Operator	Start requirement	Main charge paths	Points
PayPay	PayPay Corporation	SMS-capable smartphone contract; overseas numbers rejected	Bank, PayPay Card, carrier billing, ATM cash, auction proceeds, PayPay Credit, wire-transfer top-up64	PayPay Points, up to 1.5 percent on payment; 1 point equals 1 yen (as of 2026-09-07)7
LINE Pay	LINE Pay Corporation, service ended April 2025	New registration ended November 2024	Top-up ended March 2025; transfer to PayPay ran January to April 20253	No ongoing earn; transfer only (as of 2025-01-27)3
Rakuten Pay	Rakuten Payment	Rakuten membership plus phone verification	Rakuten Card, bank, ATM, Rakuma proceeds, Wallet crypto, gift card, Edy, 7 paths (as of 2026-08)5	Standard plus limited-time points usable5
d Payment	NTT Docomo	d Account; Docomo line optional except for carrier billing	Phone-bill aggregation (Docomo line only), balance, d Card, other cards8	d Points, double with point-card presentation (as of 2026-09-07 fetch)8

Point rates and caps in this table rotate by campaign. Confirm current figures with each official site before acting on a rate.

PayPay

PayPay is the volume leader by transaction count among code-payment apps, operated by PayPay Corporation from the SoftBank and Yahoo Japan joint venture lineage.²³ Registered users reached 75 million (as of 2026-08; confirm current figures with PayPay).²

Registration itself is free, though packet data charges apply during use.² Accepted use covers convenience stores, drugstores, restaurants, online services, and public-charge bill payment.²

About 1,000 financial institutions support bank-account registration (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with PayPay).² Cash charging runs through Seven Bank and Lawson Bank ATMs.⁴

LINE Pay

LINE Pay was the LINE messaging-integrated payment and transfer service run by LINE Pay Corporation.³ Japan service ended on April 30, 2025 after LY Corporation judged the business environment had shifted and overlapping group services should consolidate on PayPay.³

New account opening ended in late November 2024 and adding money ended in late March 2025.³ A no-fee transfer from LINE Pay balance to PayPay balance ran from January 27, 2025 to April 23, 2025, capped at 20,000 yen per transfer per day and 100,000 yen total for the period (as of 2025-01-27; confirm current figures with PayPay).³

Remaining balances after termination are refunded under the Payment Services Act regardless of account type.³ LY Corporation then resolved on December 23, 2025 to absorb LINE Pay Corporation effective March 31, 2026 (as of 2025-12-23; confirm current figures with LY Corporation).⁹ Residents should treat LINE Pay as history, not as a signup option.

Rakuten Pay

Rakuten Pay is the Rakuten Payment app tied to Rakuten membership, Rakuten Points, Rakuten Card, and Rakuten Bank.⁵ Street payment covers convenience stores, drugstores, supermarkets, restaurants, and electronics retailers.⁵

Setup starts with a free Rakuten membership, then app login and verification from the registered phone number by outgoing call.⁵ Settable cards are Rakuten Card, Visa, Mastercard, JCB, and American Express, while some prepaid and debit cards fail to register.⁵

Seven charge paths were listed: Rakuten Card, bank account, ATM, Rakuten Rakuma sales proceeds, Rakuten Wallet crypto assets, Rakuten gift card, and Rakuten Edy (as of 2026-08; confirm current figures with Rakuten Payment).⁵ ATM cash charging uses Seven Bank and Lawson Bank, and charging from a non-Rakuten-Bank account requires identity verification.⁵

Both standard and limited-time Rakuten Points spend inside Rakuten Pay.⁵ Suica issuance and charging inside the app accepts standard points only, capped at 100,000 points per month with a Suica ceiling of 20,000 yen (as of 2026-09-07; confirm current figures with Rakuten Payment).⁵

Pair Rakuten Pay with Rakuten Card inside the ecosystem

Point double stacking from card presentation plus payment only compounds when the resident already shops on Rakuten Ichiba or holds a Rakuten Card. Outside that loop, the same payment earns less.⁵

d Payment

d Payment is the NTT Docomo smartphone payment where d Points are earned and spent at street, online, and invoice-payment merchants.⁸ Anyone holding a d Account can use it with or without a Docomo line.⁸

Phone-bill aggregation stays limited to Docomo line holders.⁸ Holders on sp-mode, ahamo, irumo, or Docomo mini need no separate application, while users without a Docomo line start by issuing a d Account.⁸

Street acceptance includes listed convenience, food, drugstore, and retail chains, and invoice payment covers TEPCO Energy Partner, Tokyo Gas, Tokyo Waterworks, NHK, NTT East, and NTT Docomo.⁸ Combined d Point card presentation plus d Payment earns twice, subject to per-shop card rates (as of 2026-09-07 fetch; confirm current figures with NTT Docomo).⁸

Payments from a non-d-Card credit card earn no d Points, and phone-bill aggregation paid with a non-d-Card credit card is likewise excluded from awards.⁸ Under-20 Docomo line holders face a 10,000 yen monthly cap including tax on phone-bill aggregation (as of 2026-09-07 fetch; confirm current figures with NTT Docomo).⁸

Term	Reading	Meaning
PayPayマネー	PayPay manē	PayPay Money, the bank-transferable balance type needing identity verification4
PayPayマネーライト	PayPay manē raito	PayPay Money Light, the non-bank-transferable balance type4
楽天ポイント	Rakuten pointo	Rakuten Points, usable and earnable in Rakuten Pay5
dポイント	dī pointo	d Points, earned and spent through d Payment8
本人確認	honnin kakunin, eKYC	Identity verification, the step unlocking full balances and limits104
電話料金合算払い	denwa ryōkin gassan barai	Phone-bill aggregation, paying together with the monthly phone bill8

Opening and Funding an Account

Setup order is the same across apps: verify the phone, verify identity where needed, then link a funding source. The diagram below shows the resident path from install to first payment.

What you need to register

PayPay needs a smartphone contract able to receive an SMS verification code; tablets without SMS reception fall short and overseas mobile numbers are explicitly rejected.⁶ Supported systems were Android 9.0 and above and iOS 16.0 and above (as of 2026-09-07 fetch; confirm current figures with PayPay).⁶

Rakuten Pay needs a Rakuten membership with email, user ID, password, and basic information, then app login and an outgoing verification call from the registered number.⁵ d Payment needs a d Account, with Docomo line holders on sp-mode, ahamo, irumo, or Docomo mini needing no separate application.⁸

Most Japanese QR wallets in practice demand a Japanese phone number, which blocks short-term visitors at the first screen (limitation: resident-publisher synthesis, not an official rulebook).¹¹ New arrivals should secure the phone number before budgeting time for QR setup.

Data-only eSIM users should confirm SMS reception first

A data-only travel eSIM without an SMS-capable Japanese number fails PayPay verification even when data works fine. Confirm SMS reception on the handset you will register.⁶

How to add money

PayPay balance charges from a bank account, PayPay Card, SoftBank and Ymobile consolidated payment, ATM cash, auction and flea-market proceeds, PayPay Credit, or wire-transfer top-up.⁴ Basic charging is free except SoftBank and Ymobile consolidated payment, which is free for the first charge of the month and 2.5 percent including tax from the second charge onward (as of 2026-09-07 fetch; confirm current figures with PayPay).⁴

Holdings cap at 1 million yen each for PayPay Money and PayPay Money Light (as of 2026-09-07 fetch; confirm current figures with PayPay).¹⁰ Rakuten Pay draws from registered Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, or Rakuten Card, while some prepaid and debit cards cannot register.⁵

d Payment without a Docomo line continues through d Card, other credit cards, balance, or points after any line cancellation.⁸ Withdrawing a small PayPay balance to a non-PayPay-Bank account costs 100 yen per payout, so spending a small remainder down at a store beats cashing it out (as of 2026-04-23).¹¹

Method	Cap or fee	As of	Notes
PayPay balance payment	1,000,000 yen per 24 hours; 2,000,000 yen per 30 days	2026-09-07 fetch10	500,000 yen per 24 hours without identity verification
PayPay bank charge, verified	1,000,000 yen per 24 hours; 2,000,000 yen per 30 days	2026-09-07 fetch10	Some banks impose lower per-charge ceilings
PayPay ATM cash charge	500,000 yen per 24 hours; 2,000,000 yen per 30 days	2026-09-07 fetch10	Seven Bank and Lawson Bank ATMs
LINE Pay to PayPay transfer	20,000 yen per day; 100,000 yen period total	2025-01-273	Historical window, now closed
Rakuten Point to Suica	100,000 points per month; Suica ceiling 20,000 yen	2026-09-07 fetch5	Standard points only
PayPay balance bank payout	100 yen per payout except to PayPay Bank	2026-04-2311	Resident-publisher figure

Caps and fees in this table change by policy. Confirm current figures with each official help page before moving large amounts.

Where QR Payments Help Most

QR codes win where card terminals never arrived, not where cards already work smoothly. Match the tool to the counter in front of you.

Konbini and chain retail

PayPay covers convenience stores, drugstores, restaurants, online services, and public-charge payment in one app.² Rakuten Pay covers convenience stores, drugstores, supermarkets, restaurants, and electronics retailers.⁵

d Payment lists Seven-Eleven, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Takashimaya, Uniqlo, Bic Camera, Gusto, Mos Burger, and Marugame Seimen among street logos.⁸ For these chains, QR payment, IC cards, and contactless cards all work, so the choice comes down to points rather than acceptance.

Smaller restaurants, markets, and regional shops

Smaller restaurants, market vendors, and regional shops adopt printed QR codes because they need no special reader hardware (limitation: mechanism claim from official two-flow descriptions plus resident-publisher reporting).²¹¹ These are the counters where a foreign-issued credit card often fails but PayPay still scans.

Merchant-side QR fees of 1.6 to 3.24 percent still deter some independent shops (as of 2026-04-23).¹¹ A sticker on the door does not guarantee the register will accept your phone, so confirm before ordering.

Ask before you order at independent shops

A short check at entry avoids an awkward bill moment. Say the app name and confirm the register accepts it right now.¹¹

Bills and online use

PayPay handles public-charge bill payment and net services including Amazon, Google, and Apple integrations.² Rakuten Pay handles tax and public-charge invoice payment plus in-app Suica issuance and charging.⁵

d Payment invoice payment covers TEPCO Energy Partner, Tokyo Gas, Tokyo Waterworks, NHK, NTT East, and NTT Docomo.⁸ Rakuten online checkout lists more than 5,000 merchant integrations (as of 2026-09-07 fetch; confirm current figures with Rakuten Payment).⁵

Costs, Points, and Campaign Cycles

The official guides list no per-payment payer fee for standard shop payment; the economics sit in points earned and campaign rebates instead.²⁵⁸ Treat every rate below as a dated snapshot, not a permanent promise.

PayPay payment earns up to 1.5 percent in PayPay Points, spendable at 1 point to 1 yen, with standard points carrying no expiry (as of 2026-09-07 fetch; confirm current figures with PayPay).⁷ Limited-time PayPay Points carry an expiry and cannot be withdrawn as cash or sent to other users.⁷

Rakuten campaigns and double-point presentation-plus-payment stacking rotate continuously.⁵ d Payment street payment earns at d Point Club rank-linked rates up to 4.0 percent (as of 2026-09-07 fetch; confirm current figures with NTT Docomo).⁸

Monthly step thresholds plus PayPay Card linkage are described by resident publishers as unlocking higher tiers, with exact thresholds rotating by campaign (as of 2026-04-23).¹¹ Check the in-app campaign tab for the current month rather than relying on last season's rate.

Do not chase a campaign past its cap or expiry

Campaign rebates carry per-person caps and end dates. Spending extra just to trigger a rebate erases the rebate when the cap already bound you.⁷¹¹

Good to know

You need a Japanese phone number to start

PayPay verification fails without an SMS-capable Japanese smartphone contract, and overseas numbers are explicitly rejected.⁶ Arrivals on a foreign SIM or a data-only eSIM without SMS cannot finish setup until they hold a Japanese number.⁶¹¹

A linked bank account or card unlocks full limits

Unverified PayPay balance payments cap at 500,000 yen per 24 hours against 1,000,000 yen once verified, and bank charges are similarly halved per 24 hours without verification (as of 2026-09-07 fetch).¹⁰ Completing identity verification and linking a bank account or PayPay Card lifts the account from starter caps to full caps.¹⁰⁴

Campaign points expire and conditions change

PayPay limited-time points expire while standard points do not, Rakuten limited-time points spend in shops but not for Suica charging, and d Payment excludes non-d-Card funding from point awards.⁷⁵⁸ Each campaign page sets its own rate, cap, and expiry, so last month's headline rate is not this month's rate.⁷¹¹

Keep cash as backup where QR codes are refused

Acceptance varies by individual shop rather than by region, and some shops display a QR sticker yet decline QR payment at the register.¹¹ Transit gates do not take QR-code payment apps, so an IC card plus a few thousand yen in cash still covers the gaps a QR app cannot.¹¹

See also

• The Cash Economy and Where Digital Has Won
• Credit Card Rejection: Why It Happens and What Works
• IC Transit Cards as Cash Substitutes
• Bank Account in Japan for Foreigners: The Six-Month Rule
• Where Cash Still Rules in Japan

References

Footnotes

1. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). 2024 Ratio of Cashless Payment, March 31, 2025. https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2025/0331_001.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. PayPay Corporation. PayPay official top page. https://paypay.ne.jp/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

3. PayPay Corporation and LINE Pay Corporation. Press release: LINE Pay Balance Now Transferable to PayPay Balance, January 27, 2025. https://about.paypay.ne.jp/en/pr/20250127/01/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

4. PayPay Corporation. PayPay残高にチャージする (Charging PayPay balance) guide. https://paypay.ne.jp/guide/charge/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

5. Rakuten Payment, Inc. 楽天ペイ official top page. https://pay.rakuten.co.jp/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²

6. PayPay Corporation. 推奨動作環境 (Recommended operating environment) help page. https://paypay.ne.jp/help/c0007/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. PayPay Corporation. PayPayポイント (PayPay points) page. https://paypay.ne.jp/point/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

8. NTT Docomo, Inc. d払い official top page. https://service.smt.docomo.ne.jp/keitai_payment/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

9. LY Corporation. Press release: Absorption-Type Merger of LINE Pay Corporation, December 23, 2025 (effective March 31, 2026). https://www.lycorp.co.jp/en/news/release/019983/ ↩

10. PayPay Corporation. PayPayで設定しているご利用上限金額について (Usage limits) help page. https://paypay.ne.jp/help/c0043/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

11. Kawaraban Japan. Japan Mobile Payment Guide for Foreigners, April 23, 2026. https://kawaraban.jp/en/money-en/50631.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²