apple pay attached to foreign card?

5 comments

1. >i know japan is a cash country

   This hasn’t been true for like five years now, even in my small town at least half the stores have cashless pay, especially any kind of chain or franchise.

   Apple Pay works most places that I’ve seen, and I’ve not talked to any foreign tourist that had problems.

2. You just have to know where you’re going and plan accordingly. I live in a town of fewer than 3,500 people and I use Apple Pay (more specifically QuicPay) almost every day, but the catch is I can only use it at the three convenience stores or at the supermarket. If I wanted to pay at one of the restaurants in town, I’d have to use cash.

   And to your question about using foreign cards, I doubt that they would work because Japan has specific cashless payment systems. For example, my Japanese credit card is a Mastercard, but with regard to cashless it’s with the QuicPay system. There’s like 3 main ones; iD, Quicpay, and Suica/Pasmo.

   If your card has a tap feature, you *might* be able to use it.

3. I use Apple Pay sometimes with a U.S. credit card (specifically to add money to my Suica card) and have never had issues.

4. You do have to check the fees when using a card that’s not from Japan. Sometimes it is cheaper to withdraw a larger amount and pay cash..

5. Apple Pay works fine with my US credit card, although I only use it to charge my virtual Suica card. Your Apple Japan account itself though will not work with a foreign card. That’s a major pain in the ass when you are still getting setup with an address, bank account, etc.