I live in Japan, but I lived in China before - RE the section on PayPay I actually thought it wasn’t very novel, probably because the UX is very similar to Alip

I live in Japan, but I lived in China before - RE the section on PayPay I actually thought it wasn’t very novel, probably because the UX is very similar to Alipay in China. Relatedly, I think transit card payments are the most convenient for in person charges especially now that phones and Apple Watch supports it (though less secure than QR code ones since it just charges immediately without confirmation, and not offering credit); it’s biggest inconvenience is just that many wireless payments readers stores use connect to terminals via Bluetooth, which is slow and unreliable (the wired ones are just fine but bulkier and single-purpose, space is at a premium in cramped Japanese stores); and recently my circle has been using Line Pay and PayPay for p2p payments instead of furikomi, which is a welcome relief (no fees, much harder to screw up).