Two New Payment Methods for Japanese Businesses

Stripe has added support for bank transfers and Konbini payments in Japan. The new payment methods, announced by the company's Japan-based engineering teams, target two significant segments of the Japanese economy: business-to-business transactions and cash-preferred e-commerce.

Bank Transfers for the B2B Economy

Bank transfers, known locally as Furikomi, dominate business-to-business payments in Japan. According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), bank transfers account for 96% of the ¥335 trillion ($2.7 trillion) exchanged annually between businesses.

Stripe's implementation provisions virtual bank accounts for each customer rather than routing all transfers to a single corporate account. This allows for automatic invoice reconciliation, replacing the manual process of matching often-ambiguous incoming transfers to outstanding invoices at month-end.

The integration goes beyond simple payment capture. Businesses can issue partial and full refunds through the Stripe Dashboard and API, a capability that bank transfer systems don't natively support. The refund functionality lets customer service teams reverse incorrect transfers without granting access to corporate treasury accounts.

For marketplaces and SaaS platforms, Stripe Connect integration means businesses can accept payments on behalf of end-users without exposing banking details to customers. Billing suite integration provides invoice generation, automated and manual reconciliation, subscription management, and optional hosted customer portal interfaces. KDDI Web Communications, a subsidiary of the telecommunications company, uses the billing features to manage subscriptions for its Garoon teleconferencing service.

Konbini Payments for Cash Customers

Konbini payments let consumers pay for online purchases at any of Japan's 34,000 convenience stores. The payment method is the second most common for Japanese e-commerce after cards, representing 18% of the nearly ¥20 trillion ($167 billion) in annual online B2C payment volume, per METI data.

Previously, Konbini payments required bespoke negotiations and custom integrations that only larger businesses could afford. Stripe's offering makes the payment method available at 120 yen (about $1) per transaction, with a setup process comparable to card acceptance.

The hosted payment experience lets customers select their preferred convenience store at checkout, with the ability to change locations if needed. Instructions render in the customer's preferred language, and Stripe handles the maintenance of chain-specific payment details across all stores. Stripe also supports automatic refunds for Konbini payments, an industry first.

Businesses can enable either payment method from the Stripe Dashboard or by contacting Stripe support.