UnionPay International reaches acceptance collaboration with Recruit Lifestyle
2020-01-03

UnionPay International announced today that it has reached cooperation with Recruit Lifestyle, a subsidiary of the largest IT company in Japan Recruit Holdings, to enable all merchants of Recruit Lifestyle to accept UnionPay cards. As a result, the UnionPay acceptance coverage in Japan will reach 70%. The UnionPay acceptance is realized through mPOS terminals, which enable small and medium-sized merchants to accept UnionPay cards quickly and at lower costs, and thus offers a better card-using environment for visitors to Japan.

According to Japan National Tourism Department, China is the largest tourist source country of Japan, and the number of Chinese tourists to Japan exceeded 4.5 million in the first half of 2019, and about half of these tourists were free-and-independent travelers. At present, UnionPay is accepted at about 900,000 merchants and 80,000 ATMs in Japan, and UnionPay’s acceptance coverage in Tokyo and Osaka is over 90%. Moreover, 90% of the local chain convenience stores accept UnionPay cards, and 10,000 taxis are newly enabled to accept UnionPay cards.

This cooperation between UnionPay International and the Japanese technology company has further lowered the barriers for local merchants to accept UnionPay cards, as a result of which merchants are allowed to accept UnionPay cards in a simple and convenient way by applying for services from Recruit Lifestyle and then connecting their mobile devices with mobile card readers. The cooperation will further expand UnionPay’s acceptance network in Japan since the majority of the merchants are small and medium-sized merchants in second- and third-tier cities such as Kobe, Nara, Kumamoto and Okinawa.

Since 2018, the Japanese government has issued a series of policies to promote the development of the local mobile payment industry. UnionPay International has joined hands with a number of local institutions to accelerate the construction of local mobile payment environment. In 2019, 60,000 more merchants in Japan are enabled to accept UnionPay mobile payment services, including LOFT, Tesco, Haneda Airport, Kansai Airport, etc.

Now, UnionPay cardholders can also enjoy special offers up to 30% at thousands of merchants in 14 well-known business areas in Japan including Shinjuku, Ginza and Sapporo. Famous merchants include Mitsukoshi Isetan, Kintetsu Department Store, Odakyu Department Store and many more shopping malls. Besides, travelers who spend more than 5,000 Yen in Tax-Free shops can also claim tax refund to their UnionPay cards at tax refund counters.

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