Trends in Japan - CScout Japan Blog » Tokashiki, the FeliCa contactless and cashless island

Tokashiki, the FeliCa contactless and cashless island

Written by: Rebecca Milner on August 26, 2008 at 4:04 pm | In Technology & Gadget Trends |

Just because we haven’t mentioned FeliCa, the RFID technology that enables cashless, contact-less transactions, in a while doesn’t mean it isn’t catching on. Quite the opposite; because it is so widely accepted, it fails to make headlines these days.

Here is an update on what almost didn’t pass for newsworthy: Since last February, the Okinawan Island of Tokashiki began offering the Tokashiki Check, an Edy-like contact-less payment card that can be used anywhere on the 19.18km2 island.

With an estimated population of only 775 people, the system was enacted for the convenience of the tourists who come for diving and whale watching. In fact, the launch of the program was planned to coincide with a marathon held on the island that attracted not only a significant number of visitors, but also press.

FeliCa technology is easily integrated into urban life—payment cards double as train passes and are convenient for places oft-frequented by harried commuters, like convenience stores and vending machines; mobile phones equipped with the technology double as payment cards. In rural areas, however, the need is a little less profound, which explains why places that are visited by urban tourists are the first to widely integrate the technology. This is also helps explain why Sony is made its first steps towards bringing Felica to America in Hawaii (where many urban Japanese holiday), through the TROPA Waikiki Trolley pass and the IC embedded key chains used as season passes for the Hawaii Winter Basketball games.

Another strategy is to imbue the card with regional pride, like the IruCa card used in Takamatsu, a harbor city on rural Shikoku Island.

Iruca is the Japanese word for dolphin and an illustrated image appears on the card, all signs indicating where it can be used, and advertising campaigns for the service, like Suica’s penquin and Pasmo’s robot. The clever capitalization spells out IC, the type of card.