Japanese shun plastic

Press, 28 November 1988, Page 12

Japanese shun plastic

OFFER banknotes for a washingmachine in Britain or America, and the salesman will wonder where you stole the money. In Japan he would be alarmed if you tried to pay any other way. Years after most rich countries took up cheques and plastic, Japan clings to cash. Mugging is practically unknown, and Japanese think little of walking around with small fortunes in their pockets. The credit-card companies, Japanese and foreign, are at their wits’ end. Snob appeal seems to work no better than discount coupons. An American Express advertisement shows a proud Japanese father and his son admiring the Rockies from a train. During his 51 weeks of

hard work back at home, dad will find the card does much less nicely than in North America. Many shops and restaurants will not accept them, and railway booking clerks shunt card-bear-ers off to the tourist office. Few banks offer cheque accounts, and few customers want them. If you do not pay your gas bill by direct debit from your bank account you are expected to do so in cash at the post office. If you miss the deadline the post office will sell you a special bag to put the money in, and deliver it. Even large banks can take 20 minutes to cash a single yendenominated traveller’s cheque, and some banks refuse to cash one at all. Signatures are no evidence of identity; Japanese

carry a personal rubber stamp with their name in kanji (Chinese characters). So there is no real substitute for ready money. Banks contain a kaado koonaa (“card corner”) or kuikku robbii (“quick lobby”) with cash-dispensing machines that will instantly cough up every yen you have in your account; and most big banks’ machines honour the other banks’ cards. The corners remain open longer than the bank itself but close at 7 p.m. on week-days. At 2 p.m. on Saturdays a syrupy recording of Auld Lang Syne warns you that time is up; miss that deadline and you are broke until 9.30 Monday morning. Copyright — The Economist.