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Lawson Inc will start new services for holders of the UnionPay card which is widely used in mainland China to improve convenience for foreign tourists.
From Sept 24, customers can pay by UnionPay credit card at all Lawson stores in Japan (12,195 stores as of Aug 31). From Sept 28, customers can also withdraw Japanese yen by UnionPay credit or debit card on a newly introduced ATM at about 1,000 stores in Japan.
Lawson plans to introduce 1,500 to 2,000 new ATMs every year. By around 2020, all ATMs at Lawson stores will be able to accept both UnionPay credit and debit cards. Lawson also plans to have its new type of ATM accept Visa, MasterCard, JCB and other credit cards issued outside Japan.
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6 Comments
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Noble713
Imagine my shock the first time I tried to use a "VISA-friendly" ATM, only to find my "damn dirty foreigner VISA" apparently wasn't accepted. Only in Japan...
At least they are finally attacking this issue.
Adam Shrimpton
About time, Japan!
wtfjapan
Lawson also plans to have its new type of ATM accept Visa, MasterCard, JCB and other credit cards issued outside Japan. 7/11 ATM have been accepting foreign cards for years, comon Lawson bit slow to the party
M3M3M3
Ah, but you might be surprised to discover that many foreigners have never experienced similar problems with their credit cards. It's mostly American credit cards that have issues overseas because most haven't adopted the chip and pin security technology that was rolled out over a decade ago in other parts of the world.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/chip-based-credit-cards-are-a-decade-old-why-doesnt-the-us-rely-on-them-yet/
kurisupisu
I remember a travel agent in Osaka refusing my payment by visa debit once. Japan is still relatively backwards, try using credit cards on the Japan sea side......!
Azzprin
In 2004 when i was in Japan i was able to use my United Kingdom issued credit card to with draw cash at a post office.
Before going to Japan i had looked up about using a credit card in Japan.
General information said very few places accepted non-Japanese cards and a post office was best place to withdraw cash.
At the post office only 1 of the 4 machines was signed as able to accept non-Japanese cards.