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Wednesday, February 1, 2006
I long for the day I don’t have to carry dirty, fragile, smelly, C notes around any more. I was so excited when PayPal first came out and I could beam money to others with my Palm. Remember, that’s how it first started way back when. While some people are really attached to the ever changing green back, I would be happy and content to never use another dollar bill again. It looks like there are about 15 million Japanese that feel the same way. In fact, they don’t use money anymore, at all!
Today, however, for 15 million Japanese, paper money is a thing of the past, according to the Japan Research Institute. No longer solely used for online purchases, e-money, accessed via a smart card or mobile phone, has become a way of life for many consumers in Japan.
The high-tech Japanese are using smart cards and cell phones to make payment on everything from groceries to soda in the subway vending machines. Since the ecommerce took off on the Internet, the Japanese have openly accepted taking that same ease of use to the streets and have transitioned into a new era where paper is no longer used to for economical transactions.
It’s no telling if this trend will ever carry on over here, but man, it would be nice!
