More and more retailers are providing consumers with the option of using electronic money, essentially in the form of prepaid cards, instead of cash when purchasing goods.
The nationwide leader in the growing field is the Edy service, which is offered by Tokyo-based BitWallet Inc.
"Edy is not a real currency that the central government has authorized, so we offer it in line with a law covering prepaid cards," said Makoto Yamada, deputy general manager of business planning at BitWallet, which was established by Sony Corp. and other large firms to expand the use of electronic money -- a concept originally designed for settling online transactions between businesses.