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This reminds me of electronic payment systems like SUICA and ICOCA. Once upon a time: The Kanto region had SUICA which was introduced and pushed by JR East. Th

This reminds me of electronic payment systems like SUICA and ICOCA. Once upon a time: The Kanto region had SUICA which was introduced and pushed by JR East. The Kansai region had ICOCA which was introduced and pushed by JR West. Yes, the two JR companies are affiliated and work together...ish. No, the two payment systems are NOT compatible with each other. It's only since the last 10 years or so that SUICA and ICOCA coverage has overlapped enough that holding just one or the other has become practical; you needed both if you did any amount of travelling between the regions. Japan seriously hates cooperation.

numpad0 2y ago
Or monopoly. Suica is a JR East product, so baked in interop across Japan would mean near total domination for small electronic payments by JRE. That's bad. Although, in hindsight, that wouldn't have been as terrible as it sounds. VISA payWave would have been even more DOA than it is today in Japan if it was done that way.
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  What ended up happening is that actually universal payment systems like credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and JCB) and digital wallets (PayPay, Alipay, Apple Pay, Google Pay) were ultimately successful in carving up the formerly cash-dominated pie, forcing SUICA and ICOCA to open themselves up to broader interoperability including beyond just JR offerings. Also, note that JCB is the only Japanese one of those universal payment systems. All the others are either American or Asian ex-Japan (PayPay which is South Korean, Alipay which is Chinese).
  - numpad0 2y ago
    That's a strange timeline. Suica transit and payment started in 2001, flip phone integration in 2004, Android in 2010. PASMO-Suica interop started in 2007, expanding to 10 cards across regions in 2013. Apple Pay with NFC launched in 2016, iPhone 7 with FeliCa launched in 2016, PayPay was 2018. Those all came after success of Suica and its slowly expanded mutual interoperations. JCB is also a card brand, not a payment system. System is more like payment networks like CARDNET.
    - dcrazy 2y ago
      JCB has its own payment network in Japan. In other countries they piggy back off AmEx or Discover/Novus.

numpad0 2y ago

Or monopoly. Suica is a JR East product, so baked in interop across Japan would mean near total domination for small electronic payments by JRE. That's bad. Although, in hindsight, that wouldn't have been as terrible as it sounds. VISA payWave would have been even more DOA than it is today in Japan if it was done that way.

Dalewyn 2y ago
What ended up happening is that actually universal payment systems like credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, and JCB) and digital wallets (PayPay, Alipay, Apple Pay, Google Pay) were ultimately successful in carving up the formerly cash-dominated pie, forcing SUICA and ICOCA to open themselves up to broader interoperability including beyond just JR offerings. Also, note that JCB is the only Japanese one of those universal payment systems. All the others are either American or Asian ex-Japan (PayPay which is South Korean, Alipay which is Chinese).
- numpad0 2y ago
  That's a strange timeline. Suica transit and payment started in 2001, flip phone integration in 2004, Android in 2010. PASMO-Suica interop started in 2007, expanding to 10 cards across regions in 2013. Apple Pay with NFC launched in 2016, iPhone 7 with FeliCa launched in 2016, PayPay was 2018. Those all came after success of Suica and its slowly expanded mutual interoperations. JCB is also a card brand, not a payment system. System is more like payment networks like CARDNET.
  - dcrazy 2y ago
    JCB has its own payment network in Japan. In other countries they piggy back off AmEx or Discover/Novus.