You can soon use your Singaporean QR wallet to make payment in Japan.

Under a new joint payment programme, eight participating countries will be able to scan Japan QR (JPQR) codes to make payment.

Likewise, Japanese travellers can use QR payments in these countries, The Straits Times reported.

The eight countries are:

• Singapore
• Malaysia
• Indonesia
• The Philippines
• Thailand
• Cambodia
• Vietnam
• India

Japan aims to implement the changes prior to the Osaka World Expo, which begins on Apr. 13, 2025.

The country is currently working to ensure that Japan's JPQR payment is compatible with the unified standards of the eight other countries.

Nikkei Asia also reported that Japan will work with Chinese payment services to incorporate them into the JPQR system.

A challenge to implement

However, only 15,000 business across Japan use the JPQR service, and the country currently faces the challenge of increasing the usage of the QR code system.

"The challenge is that not many Japanese businesses are on board, though we hope the potential use by foreign visitors will be a catalyst to convince them to adopt JPQR," said Kenichi Matsuguma, director of the cashless payment promotion office at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Japan is currently lagging behind Asean countries in usage of cashless payments.

In 2023, less than 40 per cent of all transactions in Japan were cashless ones, significantly less than neighbouring countries China and South Korea, which boasted 83 per cent and 93.6 per cent of all transactions being cashless respectively.

Credit card payments formed the bulk of cashless transactions in Japan in 2023, at 83.5 per cent.

QR code payments accounted for just 8.6 per cent of cashless transactions.

Top photo via JPQR and PayNow