With one year to the next Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020, Visa, the worldwide Payment Technology, Partner of the Olympic Games, is preparing innovative payment experiences for athletes, visitors and citizens in support of the government’s “Cashless Japan” imperative to double the total of payments made digitally to 40 percent by 2025. With the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 expected to be the most innovative Olympic and Paralympic Games yet, Visa is in a unique position to help the Games become a catalyst for delivering the best in digital payments to Japan.
“There is virtually no other market in the world today that compares to Japan – it is the world’s third largest economy and a leader across many industries, yet commerce remains predominantly cash-based,” said Stephen Karpin, Representative Director & Country Manager of Japan Visa: “Visa embraces the Olympic Games as an opportunity to offer cutting-edge payment technologies at venues and the Olympic Village and throughout the host country to truly enhance the fan experience. For Tokyo 2020, we are planning experiences that will leave a lasting impact on the country, with the goal of helping accelerate economic growth, while providing the Japanese community and visitors with a ‘wow’ experience on-the-ground.”
To address the current prevalence of cash, Visa was working closely with merchants in a wide range of business categories, including Quick Service Restaurants (QSR), transit and convenience stores, to upgrade and enable contactless point-of-sale (POS) and to drive adoption for digital payments prior to the start of Tokyo 2020.
Since 2000, Visa had supported Team Visa, a diverse roster of global athletes, who competed in a wide range of events, representing the brand on-and-off the field of competition. Team Visa athlete and Japanese Olympics hopeful in the newly added sport of surfing, Kanoa Igarashi is “riding the cashless wave” in Visa’s marketing campaign, already live in Japan. Throughout the year, Visa will continue expanding the Team Visa roster, highlighting Olympics and Paralympics hopefuls and promoting the use of digital payments.