Edy

Edy logo

Edy provided by Rakuten, Inc. in Japan is a prepaid rechargeable contactless smart card. It uses Sony's FeliCa technology, also used by the competing Suica/Pasmo cards by JR East (A proof of concept version has been demonstrated using standards NFC-A technology). While the name derives from euro, dollar, and yen, it works with yen only.

On April 18, 2006, Intel announced a five billion yen (approx. 45 million USD, or 35 million euros as of May 20, 2006) investment in bitWallet, aimed at further developing the technology for PC-based electronic money settlements.

On June 1, 2012, Rakuten acquired Edy, changing the official name to RakutenEdy and the parent company from bitWallet to RakutenEdy Inc. The three-oval blue-tone logo was changed to the Rakuten logo and the font of the word 'Edy' was altered.

Mobile phones

Edy can be used on Osaifu-Keitai featured cellphones. Makers of these phones include major cell phone carriers such as docomo, au and SoftBank. The phones can be used physically like an Edy card, and online Edy features can be accessed from the phones as well, such as the ability to charge an Edy account.

Stores

PaSoRi reader/writer used for Edy

The following are some of the stores that support Edy in Japan.

• 7-Eleven (all stores in Japan)
• ampm (all stores in Japan)
• Circle K Sunkus (all stores in Japan)
• Daimaru Peacock (all stores in Japan)
• FamilyMart (all stores in Japan)
• Lawson (all stores in Japan)
• McDonald's Japan (except for some stores)
• Ministop (all stores in Japan)
• Poplar (all stores in Japan)
• Yodobashi Camera (all stores in Japan)
• Amazon.co.jp (online, with a PaSoRi linked to a computer an Edy card can be used for payment)

Over-the-counter charging

One-time charge limit is 25,000 yen. Maximum storage limit is 50,000 yen. The following are some of the stores where you can charge Edy with cash.

1 to 25,000 yen, in 1 yen increments:

• ampm
• Poplar (including Seikatsu Saika, Kurashi House, and Three Eight)

1,000 to 25,000 yen, in 1,000 yen increments:

• Lawson

1,000/2,000/3,000/5,000/10,000 yen:

• Circle K Sunkus

1,000/2,000/3,000/5,000/10,000/20,000 yen.:

• FamilyMart

1,000/2,000/3,000/4,000/5,000/10,000 yen:

• Ministop

External links

• Edy official homepage (Japanese)