Stripe launched its Terminal service in Japan, complemented by new cellular-enabled readers and integrations with local methods like PayPay and WeChat Pay, to simplify payments and reconciliation across online and in-store channels.
Stripe announced the launch of Stripe Terminal in Japan at its Stripe Tour Tokyo event, introducing hardware and integrations intended to help merchants accept and reconcile payments across online and in-person channels.
Stripe Terminal is an offering suite of physical card readers and linked developer tools that lets merchants accept in-person payments and route those transactions directly through Stripe’s payment platform. It combines cloud-managed hardware (readers and SDKs) with features like Tap-to-Pay and connectivity fallback, and integrates with Stripe services (Billing, Radar, reconciliation) to unify online and offline commerce. This unified approach eliminates fragmented integrations, speeds settlement and reconciliation, enabling consistent customer experiences, omnichannel data, and unified loyalty/returns flows.
The Terminal rollout includes the new Reader S710 (and S700), which offers cellular fallback so merchants can continue taking payments if Wi-Fi fails, and support for Tap to Pay on iPhone, as well as local integrations with PayPay and Weixin/WeChat Pay. Stripe said the contact-point will be adopted soon by Inforich, a nationwide mobile battery-sharing network, citing the company’s interest in a unified development module and multilingual support.
Beyond card acceptance, Stripe highlighted features that connect Terminal to its existing stack in Japan, including Stripe Payments, Billing for subscriptions, Radar for fraud detection (now with 3-D Secure 2 support and an authorization uplift Stripe reports at ~25%), and cross-border tooling that simplifies settlements and local payment method acceptance.
The company also announced merchant support for expansion into South Korea with local wallets and cards, and launched Stripe Startups, a program for early-stage, venture-backed companies.
Stripe has been active in Japan long before this announcement. Its platform already handles payments for thousands of Japanese businesses, supports subscription billing and cross-border flows, and integrates with local PSPs and marketplaces.
The firm cited growth in 2024: rising payment volume in Japan and a faster increase in cross-border transactions, and noted relationships with large local clients such as Toyota and ANA Group. The Terminal launch is positioned as another step toward offering a single, end-to-end payments and commerce toolkit for businesses operating both online and offline.
