Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

referenceforbusiness.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 119 posts

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#31

Post by decimalenough »

ak217 wrote: post #25
decimalenough wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit out of date. These days basically any ATM allows foreign cards, just in time for Japan to finally switch to electronic payments in a big way (in particular PayPay).

Yes. The payments landscape has shifted pretty dramatically in Japan over just the past 3 years. It used to be that you had to worry about getting cash, IC cards, refilling said IC cards, going to an actual bank with your passport, etc. Now all you need is an iPhone (although I hear Android phones from outside Japan still can't use suica).

This will remain the case as long as Sony continues to charge Android manufacturers heavy licensing fees for the FeliCa chip needed for Suica/Pasmo.

However, major Japanese cities are increasingly allowing credit card tap to pay for transport, Osaka Metro is already 100% on board and Tokyo has started trials. There's a long tail of minor companies that will likely take forever though.

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#32

Post by RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u »

decimalenough wrote: post #21
firefax wrote: post #7

I ate a lot 7/11 onigiri as a poor grad student exploring Tokyo on a long layover once... they're truly wonderful little stores. (They also are one of the few places you can use an ATM, very useful given how cash based Japan is) He can be proud of the legacy he built, which is something many American founders cannot say with a straight face. Rest in power sir.

This is a bit out of date. These days basically any ATM allows foreign cards, just in time for Japan to finally switch to electronic payments in a big way (in particular PayPay).

> These days basically any ATM allows foreign cards

I thought so, too, and perhaps it's just bad luck, but I was at Tokyo Station a few months ago, and I wasn't able to withdraw cash from Mizuho Bank's -- one of the largest retail bank in Japan -- ATM from my US debit card. I ended up walking (getting lost for) ~10 minutes to a Seven Bank ATM, and withdrew cash there without issue. So YMMV.

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#33

Post by UncleOxidant »

satvikpendem wrote: post #9

I wonder how 7/11 in the US will change now that the Japanese version bought out the US version. Will we actually have hot and prepared food like Japan? I doubt it, seems the supply chain infrastructure just isn't there.

Would be great if we could get oniguri in US 7/11s.

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#34

Post by UncleOxidant »

arjie wrote: post #18

The local stores in Japan and Taiwan are really nice. 7/11 and Family Mart are these pleasant places where you can see schoolchildren sitting chatting and eating. That’s not something you’d see in San Francisco. You’ll see adults with children sometimes at Whole Foods, which is nice, but unattended children not so much.

> but unattended children not so much.

But that's down to larger cultural differences. Japanese schoolchildren probably get less supervision overall than their US counterparts.

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#35

Post by thaumasiotes »

ssl-3 wrote: post #20
m0llusk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The waste generated is also a major challenge. Having fresh food always ready means trashing a lot of meals. In the US there are networks of food banks and such, but it can still be difficult to keep up with the flow of unpurchased food that is no longer fresh.

How is this waste dealt with in Japan? Why can't whatever-that-is be implemented in the US?

It can, but probably not in advance.

It wouldn't make much sense to develop infrastructure around a source of rapidly-expiring food before that source existed. But once the food is there, demand for it will quickly develop.

There's a general theme in policy discussions of people saying "system X has a feature that system Y does not have; therefore, moving from system Y to system X must require a fully-developed auxiliary system to be in place for dealing with that feature before the move can even be considered a possibility". This is complete nonsense; it's what people say when they want to object to something, but don't have any reasons.

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#36

Post by qmarchi »

decimalenough wrote: post #31
ak217 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The payments landscape has shifted pretty dramatically in Japan over just the past 3 years. It used to be that you had to worry about getting cash, IC cards, refilling said IC cards, going to an actual bank with your passport, etc. Now all you need is an iPhone (although I hear Android phones from outside Japan still can't use suica).

This will remain the case as long as Sony continues to charge Android manufacturers heavy licensing fees for the FeliCa chip needed for Suica/Pasmo. However, major Japanese cities are increasingly allowing credit card tap to pay for transport, Osaka Metro is already 100% on board and Tokyo has started trials. There's a long tail of minor companies that will likely take forever though.

Tokyo Metro, Toei, Keikyu, and others have rolled it out across a significant chunk of their lines at this point.

You can get to a significant portion of the network... So long as you don't have to take a JR train.

My only complaints about Contactless Cards from Visa/Mastercard/etc. Is that they're significantly slower than FeliCa. I can sprint through a gate with my Pasmo; I have to stop with my Visa.

For Visa, the closest transaction processing happens in Colorado. So they're slooooooow.

Disclaimer: Fmr Visa, current PayPay employee. I hate payments.

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#37

Post by qmarchi »

decimalenough wrote: post #21
firefax wrote: post #7

I ate a lot 7/11 onigiri as a poor grad student exploring Tokyo on a long layover once... they're truly wonderful little stores. (They also are one of the few places you can use an ATM, very useful given how cash based Japan is) He can be proud of the legacy he built, which is something many American founders cannot say with a straight face. Rest in power sir.

This is a bit out of date. These days basically any ATM allows foreign cards, just in time for Japan to finally switch to electronic payments in a big way (in particular PayPay).

I would still call this accurate.

ATMs from the major banks (SMBC, Mizuho, Yuucho, etc.) are still extremely picky about supporting US cards. Most will do it... for an egregious fee.

Kombini ATMs are better about this, but 7Bank ATMs remain the gold standard with no fees outside of whatever the bank itself charges. LawsonBank is OK, but few/far between. Enet (at a lot of kombinis) are terrible.

Disclaimer: Former Visa, current PayPay employee

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#38

Post by rjh29 »

ak217 wrote: post #25
decimalenough wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit out of date. These days basically any ATM allows foreign cards, just in time for Japan to finally switch to electronic payments in a big way (in particular PayPay).

Yes. The payments landscape has shifted pretty dramatically in Japan over just the past 3 years. It used to be that you had to worry about getting cash, IC cards, refilling said IC cards, going to an actual bank with your passport, etc. Now all you need is an iPhone (although I hear Android phones from outside Japan still can't use suica).

Android doesn't support suica for public transport but you can still use Google Pay most of the time. Except when you randomly can't! Unlike other countries you still need to take a credit card (and maybe even some cash) as backup.

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#39

Post by rjh29 »

RigelKentaurus wrote: post #6

On our last couple of Japan trips, we would walk into 7/11s for an inexpensive coffee, an egg or fruit sandwich, and also do some treasure-hunting for co-branded items with Muji/Uniqlo or others. It became a short and meaningful part of our routine. We loved the convenient locations and fantastic service at all their stores. Well done, Suzuki-san!

They are expensive by Japanese standards. Assuming you're American, you're benefitting massively from the exchange rate.

Re: Toshifumi Suzuki, founder of Seven-Eleven Japan, has died

#40

Post by vkou »

ak217 wrote: post #25
decimalenough wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit out of date. These days basically any ATM allows foreign cards, just in time for Japan to finally switch to electronic payments in a big way (in particular PayPay).

Yes. The payments landscape has shifted pretty dramatically in Japan over just the past 3 years. It used to be that you had to worry about getting cash, IC cards, refilling said IC cards, going to an actual bank with your passport, etc. Now all you need is an iPhone (although I hear Android phones from outside Japan still can't use suica).

Given that my friends with iPhones were having more trouble than me with a visitor Suica, the phone advantage isn't a major one.

Also, non-Tokyo transit systems often support VISA tap and pay.

A visitor Suica card (that you can buy at the airport and refill with cash in seconds), a VISA, and cash (that you can get at any ATM with a debit card) is 100% sufficient for travel in Japan.

---

The cash part of it is non-negotiable, though. Many merchants are cash-only. Presumably, handling large amounts of cash works fine in a society where the risk of getting robbed at gunpoint is actually zero [1], and where the police are ready to use very persuasive methods to maintain that 99% conviction rate.

---

The real frustration is that buying rail tickets online inevitably triggers an extra layer of VISA verification (2fa code through SMS or email), which usually works fine, but has already shat the bed for me once, requiring a chat with my card's CS rep. Which fucking sucks when you don't have a phone # that works.

---

[1] While the risk of some cutpurse ganking your wallet is so near-zero, it's a rounding error.

Post reply on HN