3 ms·

What I find interesting is that most Asian countries have top spots, while Japan is still in the 60% range. Why is that?

LaGrange 11mo ago
Because that’s the real top spot. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to realize there are many drawbacks to cashless.
hysan 11mo ago
At least when I lived there, Japan was a heavily cash centric culture. Due in part to the difficulty of getting a credit card and how little benefit there was to having one for day to day consumer interactions (edit to mention that I’m very much simplifying here; I know it’s more nuanced than this). 60% is lower than I would have expected but it has been almost a decade since I lived there. I closed the article once they threw that huge pop up in my face, but I did see that they only mentioned that Japan was an outlier. If you knew anything about Japanese economics and culture, this wouldn’t have been surprising to see. I’m guessing the rest of the article didn’t provide any depth to their visualization.
- Ferret7446 11mo ago
  It might also have to do with Japan having low crime. Having too much cash is a liability
anonymousiam 11mo ago
So far I haven't seen anybody give you the right answer, which is that in most Asian countries, people actually have the money they are spending vs. buying things on credit.
m463 11mo ago
I wonder if cash and safety correlate? I think it would be pretty safe to carry cash in japan, male or female. Also, Japanese people say they are slow to change, like from cash to cashless.
- arevno 11mo ago
  From the article, cash is king in some of the most violent places in the world, so no. Also, this "cash is unsafe" meme is wild. Robbers do not routinely detect the presence of cash on your person using millimeter wave scanners.
  - m463 11mo ago
    > Robbers do not routinely detect the presence of cash But the reverse might not be true. Just because it is not detectable does not mean people who feel unsafe would carry large quantities of cash. If I was going into a bad neighborhood, I wouldn't carry a lot of cash. But in japan, I've seen how people behave differently. for example, I saw a lady leave her purse on a restaurant table while she went to the bathroom. This kind of stuff is common in japan - people feel safe and there is little expectation of theft.

LaGrange 11mo ago

Because that’s the real top spot. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to realize there are many drawbacks to cashless.

hysan 11mo ago

At least when I lived there, Japan was a heavily cash centric culture. Due in part to the difficulty of getting a credit card and how little benefit there was to having one for day to day consumer interactions (edit to mention that I’m very much simplifying here; I know it’s more nuanced than this). 60% is lower than I would have expected but it has been almost a decade since I lived there. I closed the article once they threw that huge pop up in my face, but I did see that they only mentioned that Japan was an outlier. If you knew anything about Japanese economics and culture, this wouldn’t have been surprising to see. I’m guessing the rest of the article didn’t provide any depth to their visualization.

Ferret7446 11mo ago
It might also have to do with Japan having low crime. Having too much cash is a liability

anonymousiam 11mo ago

So far I haven't seen anybody give you the right answer, which is that in most Asian countries, people actually have the money they are spending vs. buying things on credit.

m463 11mo ago

I wonder if cash and safety correlate? I think it would be pretty safe to carry cash in japan, male or female. Also, Japanese people say they are slow to change, like from cash to cashless.

arevno 11mo ago
From the article, cash is king in some of the most violent places in the world, so no. Also, this "cash is unsafe" meme is wild. Robbers do not routinely detect the presence of cash on your person using millimeter wave scanners.
- m463 11mo ago
  > Robbers do not routinely detect the presence of cash But the reverse might not be true. Just because it is not detectable does not mean people who feel unsafe would carry large quantities of cash. If I was going into a bad neighborhood, I wouldn't carry a lot of cash. But in japan, I've seen how people behave differently. for example, I saw a lady leave her purse on a restaurant table while she went to the bathroom. This kind of stuff is common in japan - people feel safe and there is little expectation of theft.