Merchants in Japan can now take contactless card payments on an Android phone with nothing else to carry. Stripe opened Tap to Pay on Android to Japanese accounts as a public preview, and the Payment app turns it on for any Stripe account based in Japan. Your customer taps their card or phone on the back of yours, and the sale lands in your Stripe account the same as one taken on a card reader.
Tap to Pay on iPhone has worked in Japan for a while now. Until this update, Android owners there had to buy a reader first, which is a lot to ask from someone selling at a weekend market or taking a deposit at a client's door.
Which cards can I accept?
Visa, Mastercard, American Express and JCB contactless cards, plus Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay on your customer's phone. JCB matters more in Japan than almost anywhere else, so it's worth knowing Stripe supports it on Tap to Pay there. Payments are in yen. If a card asks for a PIN, the PIN pad appears on your phone and your customer enters it there.
Imagine the following scenario: you run a pottery stall at a Saturday craft fair in Kyoto. A customer picks out a ¥4,800 tea bowl and holds up their phone. You type the amount, tap Next, hold your Pixel out, and their wallet pays. There's no reader to charge the night before and nothing to pair.
Which phones work?
Stripe checks the phone itself, so the list isn't fixed. In general, your phone needs:
- Android 13 or later
- NFC, turned on
- A security update from the last 12 months
- Google Play services and the Play Store
- An unmodified system, with Developer options turned off
Most recent Pixel and Samsung Galaxy phones qualify, and many others do too. If yours doesn't, the app tells you the reason instead of leaving you guessing. We explain each message in Troubleshooting Tap to Pay on Android.
How do I turn it on?
Update the app, then tap Enable Tap to Pay on the charge screen, or open Connect reader and choose Tap to Pay on this phone. The first time, Stripe asks for the location you sell from. In Japan, Stripe needs that address in kanji, with an optional kana version, so the app shows a form built for Japanese addresses rather than guessing from your account details. Once the location is saved, you won't see it again.
What about card readers?
Tap to Pay is great for getting started, but it only reads contactless payments. If many of your customers insert their card, or you want a screen they can see, Stripe sells the BBPOS WisePad 3, the Stripe Reader S700 and S710, and the Stripe Reader T600 in Japan, and the app works with all of them. We compared them in Which Stripe card reader should you buy?
What does public preview mean?
It's Stripe's label for a feature that's open to everyone in a country while they finish rolling it out. You don't need to sign up or ask for access. In some cases, Stripe may adjust the details as it moves to general availability, and we'll update the app if anything changes on our end.
Availability
Tap to Pay on Android in Japan is in Payment for Stripe 16.0.1 and later on Google Play. If you have automatic updates turned on, you may already have it. As always, email us at support@pocketvendor.com if anything looks off.
