OK, things are heating up in the Japanese cashless payments market ahead of the 10% consumption tax hike with cashless incentives. And things are getting fun. What other country in the world runs TV ads for cashless payment terminals?
Recruit’s AirPay POS system for small stores deftly navigates the entire Japan cashless map and is running an TV ad campaign featuring Joe Odagiri and rich visitors from abroad in various roles with credit cards. The punch line is “Do you take cards?” to which Joe Odagiri the store owner invariably replies, “cash only”. The rich customers walk away and Joe says, “I wish we had AirPay.” It pokes fun at the Japanese penchant for cash.