Japanese Prepaid Cards Nanaco and WAON to Support Apple Pay Later This Year

[MacRumors]

Two popular Japanese prepaid money cards will be gaining support for Apple Pay later this year, allowing the cards to be added to the Wallet app for contactless payments using an iPhone or Apple Watch where accepted, it was announced today.

The cards set to gain Apple Pay support include Seven & I's Nanaco card and AEON's WAON card, as noted by Ata Distance. The blog, which focuses on mobile payment and transit cards in Japan, believes it will likely become possible to add the cards to the Wallet app shortly after the public release of iOS 15, which is expected in September.

As part of its Apple Pay announcement, Seven & I said it has issued around 74 million Nanaco cards that are accepted at around 800,000 retail locations in Japan, including 7-Eleven and Ito-Yokado stores. Likewise, AEON said it has issued over 87 million WAON cards that are accepted at more than 840,000 retail locations across the island country.

Apple Pay continues to expand to more issuers around the world, including ING in Belgium and FNB in South Africa earlier this month.

Article Link: Japanese Prepaid Cards Nanaco and WAON to Support Apple Pay Later This Year

 

[orbital~debris]

Nanaco and WAON cards appear to have very cute branding 😊

 

[HMFIC03]

I wish the rest of Japan would catch up - you’d be amazed at how little you are able to use physical card let alone Apple Pay. Nearly every other counter I go to has a apple nfc sign but they don’t know what it is or if it works..usually not. Cash 💴 society

 

[chinito77]

Very surprised about Nanaco on boarding. It's going to be a long time before Japan gets more cashless. However it seems like the Chinese backed PayPay is more popular and everywhere compared to Apple Pay.

 

[pretend.doctor]

How do these compare to Suica on apple pay? Suica is super easy to reload on your phone (can use apple pay credit card). But maybe these two are accepted in more places?

 

[japanime]

Nanaco and WAON cards appear to have very cute branding 😊

Very clever names, too.

How do these compare to Suica on apple pay? Suica is super easy to reload on your phone (can use apple pay credit card). But maybe these two are accepted in more places?

Each has its segment of the market. Nanaco will be good at 7-Eleven convenience stores and (more importantly to me) supermarkets under the Seven and I Holdings umbrella. Waon is accepted at other convenience store and supermarket chains.

Suica is widely accepted, and has the huge advantage of being able to be set as an express transit card. So, even when used for non-transit transactions (stores, restaurants, etc.), it's not necessary to double-click the iPhone or Apple watch. Just wave and go.

 

[alexdelta]

I wish the rest of Japan would catch up - you’d be amazed at how little you are able to use physical card let alone Apple Pay. Nearly every other counter I go to has a apple nfc sign but they don’t know what it is or if it works..usually not. Cash 💴 society

Where do you live? For the last five years I haven’t had any cash in my wallet.

 

[japanime]

Where do you live? For the last five years I haven’t had any cash in my wallet.

If you stick to the big brands, then it's possible to go cashless. But plenty of mom-and-pop operations (at least here in Tokyo) are still cash-only.

 

[greenl1ght]

I've wanted mobile nanaco to be able to use 7-11's printer/copier cashless, this is going to be nice. How useful WAON is will depend on if it will integrate with my current credit-card-tied WAON that my points get redeemed to .

I wish the rest of Japan would catch up - you’d be amazed at how little you are able to use physical card let alone Apple Pay. Nearly every other counter I go to has a apple nfc sign but they don’t know what it is or if it works..usually not. Cash 💴 society

In my experience it's gotten really good the past few years since PayPay has taken over and the government has pushed cashless with the cashless discount campaigns. I only go to an ATM maybe every 3 months or so. Every chain store and restaurant is now fully on the cashless train (even 100 yen shops that were long-time holdouts), and all the small bars and restaurants I go to now take PayPay. The only place I use cash anymore is vending machines, and even there I tend to walk past the cash ones toward a Coke-ON machine.

 

[xxanderxu]

I wish the rest of Japan would catch up - you’d be amazed at how little you are able to use physical card let alone Apple Pay. Nearly every other counter I go to has a apple nfc sign but they don’t know what it is or if it works..usually not. Cash 💴 society

I've wanted mobile nanaco to be able to use 7-11's printer/copier cashless, this is going to be nice. How useful WAON is will depend on if it will integrate with my current credit-card-tied WAON that my points get redeemed to .

In my experience it's gotten really good the past few years since PayPay has taken over and the government has pushed cashless with the cashless discount campaigns. I only go to an ATM maybe every 3 months or so. Every chain store and restaurant is now fully on the cashless train (even 100 yen shops that were long-time holdouts), and all the small bars and restaurants I go to now take PayPay. The only place I use cash anymore is vending machines, and even there I tend to walk past the cash ones toward a Coke-ON machine.

Sounds like op meant NFC payments like Visa PayWave or MasterCard PayPass. Both are little known in Japan, even at stores that accept them the cashier don't often know what you're talking about, since contactless credit cards in Japan go with the NFC-F aka FeliCa-based iD/QuicPay networks rather than NFC-A/B. Same applies when you add a Japan-issued CC to Apple Pay, it still uses iD or QuicPay.

Much better to add your CC to Apple Pay then use it to load value onto Suica, which is the most widely accepted, even more so than the iD/QuicPay Apple Pay.

 

[orbital~debris]

Very clever names, too.

Can you explain how so, please? I’m interested 🙂

 

[japanime]

Can you explain how so, please? I’m interested 🙂

"Nana" is one way to pronounce the word "seven," which refers to the "seven" in "Seven and I Holdings" (itself a combination of "7-Eleven" and the first letter in "Ito Yokado," which is part of the conglomerate).

The Waon card mascot is a dog, and "waon" is an onomatopoieia for a dog's bark, and the Waon NFC terminals make a barking sound when the transaction is successful.

Most Japanese e-payment cards have very clever names. Here's a page from a book I helped write that explains the meaning of Suica (mentioned elsewhere in this thread) as well as the Icoca card.

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[SactoGuy18]

Now, if Apple Pay could be linked to QR code payment systems like Rakuten Pay, LINE Pay and PayPay.

 

[Luke MacWalker]

Most Japanese e-payment cards have very clever names. Here's a page from a book I helped write that explains the meaning of Suica (mentioned elsewhere in this thread) as well as the Icoca card.

Thank you! I was wondering why they called this card "watermelon"… 😊