Apple Pay Is Coming to Japan on the iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2

Japanese consumers will soon be able to use Apple Pay on their iOS devices, the tech giant announced today. The new Apple Pay availability was announced Wednesday at Apple’s San Francisco event — where Cupertino announced the iPhone 7 and the Apple Watch Series 2, according to a press release.

“We are incredibly excited to bring iPhone 7 to customers in Japan so they can experience the magic of Apple Pay,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.

Both the iPhone 7 and the Apple Watch Series 2 will include new technology that will allow Japanese consumers to use Apple Pay — which hasn’t been possible in the past because of Japan’s widespread use of the FeliCa mobile payment technology.

FeliCa, which was developed by Sony, is a tap-and-pay system that is similar to NFC — the system currently used by Apple and other contactless payment systems around the world, CNET reported.

FeliCa has a few advantages over NFC, including an extremely quick transaction time clocked at around 0.1 second — due to the lack of required bank approval for payment, according to Sony. FeliCa can also store electronic currency that can be used at vending machines and cafes around Japan.

Apple Pay has been expanded to over half a dozen countries around the world since it launched in 2014 — but due to the country’s use of FeliCa, it hasn’t been available in Japan. Alongside FeliCa support, Apple is also introducing Maps-based transit features in Japan in iOS 10 that will work wherever Suica — a contactless transit fare card — is accepted.

These features include ride details and fare breakdowns, and will also allow consumers to buy or reload a Suica card — all on their iPhones — allowing for a “seamless and simpler” commute, Apple wrote in a press release.

Apple Pay should roll out in Japan sometime in October, the company announced.