15M Japanese Don’t Use Paper Currency

The Japan Research Institute, as reported by Walaika K. Haskins of newsfactor.com, has claimed that 15 million Japanese citizens don’t use paper currency whatsoever. They use e-money which is accessible through a smart card or their mobile phone. From personal experience, if you’ve ever used a public pay phone in Asia then you’ll need to figure out a way to navigate the smart card system because many won’t accept coins. The institute estimated that by 2008, 40M Japanese will be using e-money.

The article is pretty interesting and it worth a look, I wonder when the pervasiveness of these smart cards and e-money will appear here in the US.