The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry will start accepting applications on June 22 from stores that are willing to introduce a unified code for cashless payments, called JPQR.
With this new standard, a single QR code will enable cashless transactions with multiple payment operators, such as PayPay and Line Pay. It is scheduled to become available in mid-July.
Cashless payments using QR codes have rapidly spread nationwide, partly due to the government's reward points program for cashless payments. However, stores have had to cope with numerous QR codes to keep up with payment operators that have emerged one after another, by displaying the QR code of each service at their checkout registers.
JPQR eases this problem by enabling transactions for up to 18 different payment operators with a single QR code, while also allowing stores to register with several operators all at once. The ministry hopes to further promote cashless payments by reducing the burden on stores, and aims to have 100,000 outlets using the JPQR codes by the end of this fiscal year.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
