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A video released by the Japan Mint showing 1-yen coins being mass-produced racked up more than 13 million views and became a hot topic on social media. On 5ch, users debated why 1-yen coins are increasing even as cashless payments spread, with many pointing out that the 3-5% payment processing fees stores must shoulder are so heavy that some businesses are drifting back to cash.
Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 15:25
In July, a post went viral on social media. The Japan Mint had posted footage of “1-yen coins” being mass-produced, and it racked up over 13 million views. But still — in this “cashless” era, why on earth…?
We asked around the streets of Shizuoka: Team “cashless”? Or team “cash”?
Source: look.satv.co.jp / Original article here
For stores, having to eat the payment processing fee themselves is just too much of a burden.
If it were a flat ¥100,000 a month, sure that's pricey, but it's about the cost of hiring one part-timer, so you can swallow it — once the fees alone top ¥200,000 though, it feels like you're getting fleeced.
It's 3-5% of sales, so as an expense it's just too heavy.
For costs that don't directly generate sales, a few tens of thousands of yen is about the max a store can stomach.
If it were a flat ¥100,000 a month, sure that's pricey, but it's about the cost of hiring one part-timer, so you can swallow it — once the fees alone top ¥200,000 though, it feels like you're getting fleeced.
It's 3-5% of sales, so as an expense it's just too heavy.
For costs that don't directly generate sales, a few tens of thousands of yen is about the max a store can stomach.
Who's actually footing the bill for mass-producing all these 1-yen coins?
Ramen shops basically price in 10-yen units, so 1-yen coins don't really factor in, do they?
>>4
If a bowl of ramen is ¥880 before tax, that comes to ¥968 once consumption tax is added.
If a bowl of ramen is ¥880 before tax, that comes to ¥968 once consumption tax is added.
If Japan built a zero-fee cashless system like India's, stores would've been so much better off.
>>5
The maintenance and other running costs there are covered by taxes, though.
And naturally, with no competition, it ends up way pricier than anything private.
The maintenance and other running costs there are covered by taxes, though.
And naturally, with no competition, it ends up way pricier than anything private.
Credit card fraud: ¥50 billion in damages.
Everyone keeps talking about rising prices, but inflation is only around 2%.
They're just tacking the cashless processing fee on top of that.
They're just tacking the cashless processing fee on top of that.
>>7
Prices go up every year, and there are subsidies for energy and other things on top of that — that comment is way off base.
Prices go up every year, and there are subsidies for energy and other things on top of that — that comment is way off base.
Because cashless is starting to feel outdated.
Compared to the U.S.,
the credit card processing fees stores have to pay in Japan are just higher.
the credit card processing fees stores have to pay in Japan are just higher.
Thinking about management costs,
I think it'd be fine to just scrap the 1-yen and 5-yen coins
and round all cash payments to the nearest 10 yen.
Vending machines and ticket machines already don't take them anyway,
so I don't think there'd be much pushback.
I think it'd be fine to just scrap the 1-yen and 5-yen coins
and round all cash payments to the nearest 10 yen.
Vending machines and ticket machines already don't take them anyway,
so I don't think there'd be much pushback.
>>12
That's the consumption tax's fault.
That's the consumption tax's fault.
I wonder if they'll ever make a new 2,000-yen bill.
Just charge the customer the processing fee — problem solved.
>>14
Well, while prices overseas have doubled over the past 30 years,
Japan was the only one stuck in deflation,
so honestly this is just that "distortion" slowly working itself out.
Well, while prices overseas have doubled over the past 30 years,
Japan was the only one stuck in deflation,
so honestly this is just that "distortion" slowly working itself out.
I don't go to cash-only stores.
If I walk in and find out it's cash-only, I just walk back out.
Cash means a pocket full of jangling coins, which is annoying.
If I walk in and find out it's cash-only, I just walk back out.
Cash means a pocket full of jangling coins, which is annoying.
With prices climbing, I've started going more often to stores like OK (a discount supermarket chain) that offer cash discounts.
Losing 3% of sales to fees really stings. At my company, our commission rate dropped and our take-home pay went down because of it.
> Because of this "return to cash" trend, demand for 1-yen coins,
> which had been steadily declining, has now "leveled off." That's why
> production got a big boost this fiscal year.
The headline and the actual point of the article don't really match up lol
> which had been steadily declining, has now "leveled off." That's why
> production got a big boost this fiscal year.
The headline and the actual point of the article don't really match up lol
Before the consumption tax was introduced, 1-yen coins barely got used at all.
I wonder if these fees just end up lining the pockets of amakudari bureaucrats (retired officials parachuted into cushy industry jobs).
Meanwhile the EU caps cashless processing fees at 0.3%.
>>25
Why can't Japan do the same?
Why can't Japan do the same?
It's a vicious cycle — fees won't drop because nobody uses it, and nobody uses it because the fees won't drop.
Bottom line, these fees are basically protection money. Bureaucrats, politicians, corporations — this country runs on a real thug mentality.
Any store that can't stomach a mere 3% or so in fees deserves to go under.
The "impulse buy" boost from offering cashless payments outweighs that cost anyway.
Stores that can't take a short-term hit for long-term gain are just running on fumes — sooner or later they'll get weeded out.
The "impulse buy" boost from offering cashless payments outweighs that cost anyway.
Stores that can't take a short-term hit for long-term gain are just running on fumes — sooner or later they'll get weeded out.
>>28
It really is a strange situation, but since nobody's doing anything about it, nothing changes.
For a payment processor, whether it's a ¥10 purchase or a ¥100,000 one, the cost of providing the service is the same. There's no justification for skimming 3% off the sale. It's also absurd that cash prices and electronic payment prices have to match. I wish antitrust and anti-cartel law would step in on this. This is clearly a predatory business practice.
It really is a strange situation, but since nobody's doing anything about it, nothing changes.
For a payment processor, whether it's a ¥10 purchase or a ¥100,000 one, the cost of providing the service is the same. There's no justification for skimming 3% off the sale. It's also absurd that cash prices and electronic payment prices have to match. I wish antitrust and anti-cartel law would step in on this. This is clearly a predatory business practice.
>>28
Aren't you confusing this with credit cards?
You can't exactly make impulse buys with Suica or PayPay, can you?
Aren't you confusing this with credit cards?
You can't exactly make impulse buys with Suica or PayPay, can you?
I want them to make a low-denomination coin about as heavy as the 500-yen coin. A hole through the center would help too — you could string a bunch together.
You need something like that to jab at a creep's eye or temple to scare them off.
You need something like that to jab at a creep's eye or temple to scare them off.
You can really feel the desperation to trash cashless payments here.
They just keep churning out the same kind of article over and over to justify cash lol
They just keep churning out the same kind of article over and over to justify cash lol
The same people who normally gripe about middlemen skimming profits go dead silent when it comes to cashless's rip-off fees.
If anything, they're the ones saying "just pay it, it's not a big deal."
If anything, they're the ones saying "just pay it, it's not a big deal."
>>33
Since they can't make money off merchant stores anymore, there's no cashback for consumers.
With no other way to profit but squeezing consumers, annual fees and issuance fees just get tacked on like it's totally normal.
Since they can't make money off merchant stores anymore, there's no cashback for consumers.
With no other way to profit but squeezing consumers, annual fees and issuance fees just get tacked on like it's totally normal.
Cashless payment fees around the world
Japan: 3-5%
Europe: 0.2-0.3% (capped by law)
China: 0% (state-run)
India: 0% (state-run)
Japan: 3-5%
Europe: 0.2-0.3% (capped by law)
China: 0% (state-run)
India: 0% (state-run)
>>38
What about the US?
What about the US?
Realistically it needs to drop below 1% or it's rough.
A ¥25 fee on a ¥1,000 bowl of ramen isn't something you can just shrug off.
I heard China's rate is around 0.5%.
A ¥25 fee on a ¥1,000 bowl of ramen isn't something you can just shrug off.
I heard China's rate is around 0.5%.
Going cashless would cut all kinds of costs — minting, printing, transport, security, storage — and stores would save on making change and training staff, while also cutting the risk of theft from the till. There should be a legal basis for reining in these unreasonably high processing fees. The reason the government won't do it is that it would invite the same criticism leveled at all the various pretexts it already uses to squeeze taxes out of the public.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Business News+) thread “[Society] One in Three People Are Cashless — So Why This Era of “1-Yen Coin Mass Production”? Stores Are Ditching QR Payments… The Surprisingly Convincing Reason“.
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