Paying with crypto in Japan: what actually works

How many places in Japan accept bitcoin?

Fewer than you'd guess for a country with a reputation for gadgets and early crypto regulation. We checked BTC Map, a community-run map where users add and re-verify places that accept bitcoin, in October 2026. It listed 81 locations in Japan. But 39 of those are stops on the weekly routes of two food trucks, Cocorotus and Around, so the same two businesses appear dozens of times. Strip those out and you're left with roughly 40 fixed venues across the whole country.

About 70% of the listings sit in and around Tokyo. Osaka and Nara have a handful each; Kyoto, Kobe, Fukuoka, Kanazawa, Sado Island and Yomitan in Okinawa have one or two. Hokkaido (including Sapporo), Sendai, Nagoya and Hiroshima have none on the map at all. If you're planning a trip around paying in sats, plan for Tokyo, and carry another way to pay.

The reasons aren't mysterious. Japan's cashless boom happened through PayPay-style QR codes, credit cards and transit IC cards such as Suica, so shops have little reason to add crypto. Prices move, and for anyone living here each payment creates a tax calculation. That's why, if you live in Japan, the practical way to spend crypto is usually indirect: sell it into an e-money balance you already use.

Visiting Japan: can you pay with crypto?

This got much easier on 30 September 2026. Overseas Binance Pay users can now pay at PayPay merchants nationwide through a cross-border QR scheme called HIVEX. You scan the shop's PayPay code, pay from your Binance Pay balance, and the merchant receives yen as if it were any other PayPay payment. PayPay is the dominant QR wallet in Japan, so the sticker is everywhere from ramen counters to drugstores. The catch: it's designed for inbound visitors. Japan residents and Binance Japan users are excluded.

The other tourist route is a crypto-linked debit or prepaid card issued in your home country. Japan is mostly card-friendly now, so anywhere that takes Visa or Mastercard will accept it. Most of these cards come from companies that aren't registered with Japan's Financial Services Agency, which is fine for a visitor spending abroad but means residents usually can't sign up. Our crypto cards guide explains which cards residents can actually get.

What tourists usually can't do is use the domestic routes described below. Bic Camera's bitcoin option, Mercari, Rakuten Wallet and Binance Japan all need a Japanese exchange or app account, and those require a Japanese address and ID such as a residence card (在留カード, zairyu card). If you need cash from crypto, a few operator-run machines exist in Tokyo and Osaka; see crypto ATMs in Japan. For the wider picture of what short-term visitors can and can't do, read crypto for foreigners in Japan.

Which places list bitcoin payments?

The table below picks places from BTC Map whose listings were re-checked by users fairly recently. Payment comes in two flavours: on-chain bitcoin, sent directly on the main network, and LightningA payment layer built on top of bitcoin for fast, cheap small payments. Most café and bar listings in Japan use it., which suits small payments at a counter. For Lightning you need a compatible wallet app on your phone.

Tokyo Bitcoin Base in Yotsuya is the closest thing Japan has to a bitcoin clubhouse: coworking, events, language classes and a rooftop, open weekdays 10:00 to 18:00, with an English version of its website. Food trucks park outside on Monday and Thursday lunchtimes and take Lightning too. For more Tokyo venues see our Tokyo guide; for Osaka and Kansai, the Osaka page.

One unusual listing: apts.jp, an Akasaka real-estate agency, says it accepts on-chain bitcoin for brokerage fees on rentals and purchases. Bigger payments mean bigger tax consequences if you're a resident, so do the maths first.

What happened to Bic Camera's bitcoin payments?

Bic Camera is the name everyone quotes. According to bitFlyer's press release, the electronics chain began accepting bitcoin on 7 April 2017 at its Yurakucho store and the Bicqlo Shinjuku East Exit store, with a cap of ¥100,000 per payment, and later expanded it chain-wide. Blog reports say that from 22 March 2023 only bitFlyer wallets could be used, still capped at ¥100,000.

Bic Camera's official information page didn't respond when we checked, so we can't confirm the current terms. Treat it as "ask at the register" rather than a sure thing. In any case it only helps if you already hold bitcoin in a bitFlyer account, which needs Japanese residency; see our bitFlyer review. Yamada Denki trialled bitFlyer payments in two stores in 2018 (current status unknown), and we found no evidence that Yodobashi Camera accepts crypto.

Living in Japan: the realistic ways to spend crypto

If you live here, think of crypto as something you convert into the wallets Japan already uses. The shop never sees crypto; you just sell into a balance and spend it normally. These routes are confirmed by the companies themselves.

Mercari. Since 15 February 2024, bitcoin held in Mercari's built-in trading service can pay for Mercari purchases. Mercari's help page is clear about what happens: your bitcoin is sold, the yen lands in your Merpay balance, and that pays for the item. The bitcoin portion of a purchase must be under ¥1,000,000, it works in the app only, and Mercari Shops and Mercari NFT purchases are excluded. Mercoin, the crypto arm, is covered in our Mercoin review.

Rakuten Wallet to Rakuten Cash. Rakuten's exchange can pay the proceeds of a crypto sale straight into Rakuten Cash, usable with Rakuten Pay and on Rakuten Ichiba. The charge itself is free, but you pay the dealer spreadThe gap between the buy and sell price quoted at the same moment. On dealer desks it is the hidden cost of a trade. on the sale. Details in the Rakuten Wallet review.

Binance Japan to PayPay Money. PayPay owns 40% of Binance Japan, and sale proceeds can go back to PayPay Money. Since April 2026 you can also move PayPay Money in and out separately, at ¥110 per transfer. See buying crypto with PayPay.

au PAY's αU wallet. Launched inside the au PAY app on 30 September 2026, αU is a self-custodyA wallet where you hold the private keys yourself instead of leaving coins with an exchange. Lose the keys and nobody can recover the funds. wallet for ID-verified au PAY users. It can top up your au PAY balance from WBTC, ETH or the yen stablecoinA token designed to hold a steady value against a currency, such as JPYC for the yen or USDC for the US dollar. JPYC, which you then spend at au PAY merchants. More on JPYC in our yen stablecoin guide.

Cards are the other half of the picture. Japanese issuers now offer credit cards that pay rewards in crypto, including the bitFlyer card, the Binance Japan Card, the SBI VISA Crypto Card and the EPOS card for bitbank, whose bill can even be settled in bitcoin. Those are compared in our crypto cards guide.

Every crypto payment is a taxable event

This is the part that keeps most residents from spending bitcoin. The National Tax Agency's FAQ treats buying goods with crypto the same as selling it. If you're a Japan tax resident, the difference between what the coins are worth when you spend them and what you paid for them is miscellaneous incomeZatsu shotoku: Japan's catch-all income category. It is added to your salary and taxed at progressive rates, up to 55% in total. (雑所得, zatsu shotoku).

Say you bought bitcoin for ¥50,000 and it's worth ¥80,000 when you use it to buy something priced at ¥80,000. You've just realized ¥30,000 of income. Mercari's bitcoin payment is the same, because it sells your bitcoin first. So is a ¥600 Lightning coffee. Miscellaneous income is added to your salary and taxed at combined national and local rates of up to 55%. Salaried workers with one employer and less than ¥200,000 of other income don't file a national return for it, but still owe a resident-tax declaration.

Keep a log of every spend: date, amount in yen, coin and quantity. Our Japan crypto tax guide explains the calculation, and the planned 20% rate, expected from 2028 at the earliest, is covered in the tax reform explainer. If you're only visiting, Japan's resident rules don't apply in the same way, but your home country may tax the disposal; check its rules.

Running a business in Japan and want to accept bitcoin?

Most of the venues on BTC Map do it the simple way: the owner sets up a Lightning wallet and shows a QR code at the till. Large merchant programmes are thin on the ground. Bic Camera used an exchange's payment service, but we found no new large-scale programme in 2026. If you're already a PayPay merchant, you accept Binance Pay from overseas visitors automatically and are paid in yen, with nothing extra to set up.

Crypto you receive is revenue at its yen value when you receive it, and companies holding crypto with an active market at their fiscal year-end must mark it to market for corporate tax. Talk to a tax accountant before you start. Once you accept bitcoin, adding yourself to BTC Map is how most bitcoin users will find you. If the jargon is new, our crypto glossary gives every term with its Japanese equivalent.

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