Do Japanese companies pay by card? Mostly no. Here's how 銀行振込 works.
Japanese B2B buyers pay by bank transfer against an invoice, on a month-end closing cycle. How to quote payment terms and actually get the money.
What happened
You closed your first deal with a Japanese company. You sent the link you send everyone else: a Stripe checkout page, card details, done in two minutes. The reply came back asking for a 見積書 (mitsumorisho, “quotation”) with payment terms, followed by an invoice, and saying the company would pay by 銀行振込 (ginkō furikomi, “bank transfer”).
Then the questions started. What is your closing date? Which month will you bill? Do you have a Japanese bank account? Who covers the transfer fee? Several weeks later the money has still not moved, and nobody on the buyer’s side thinks anything is wrong.
This is the ordinary path for business-to-business sales in Japan. Cards are common for consumer purchases and for small tools bought on a corporate card, but a purchasing department paying a vendor normally issues a transfer against an invoice. The friction you are feeling is not rejection. It is a different settlement process that has its own vocabulary and its own calendar.
What’s going on on the Japanese side
銀行振込 is the default B2B settlement method. Japanese authorities push the same way: in a joint request with the JFTC, METI asked industry associations to shorten payment sites to within 60 days of receipt and to pay in cash — meaning bank transfer — wherever possible, including for transactions outside the scope of the revised law in force since 2026-01-01 (source).
The calendar is 月末締め翌月末払い (getsumatsu-jime yokugetsu-matsu-barai, “close at month end, pay at the end of the following month”). Work delivered any time in March is closed on 31 March, invoiced in early April, and paid on 30 April. This is commercial custom rather than a rule, and 20日締め or 翌々月払い exist too, so the closing date belongs in writing.
請求書払い (seikyūsho-barai, “invoice billing”), also called 掛売り (kakeuri, “sale on credit”), means you deliver first and bill later. Before granting it, a buyer typically checks your company registration, trading history, references, and sometimes a credit report.
The 振込手数料 (furikomi tesūryō, “transfer fee”) is negotiated, not fixed. 先方負担 (senpō futan) means the payer absorbs it; 当方負担 (tōhō futan) means it comes out of your amount. JETRO’s export billing guidance is that charges arising in the exporter’s country fall to the seller and charges outside Japan fall to the buyer, and that the split belongs in the contract (source).
消込 (kesikomi, “reconciliation”) matches the money to your invoice. A transfer carries a sender name and little else, so if that name differs from the company on the invoice, the payment sits unallocated (source).
What to do next
- Propose payment terms yourself instead of waiting to be told. Default to 月末締め翌月末払い, state it in both languages on the quote, and name the exact date of the first payment.
- Sort out where the money lands before you quote. A yen account at a Japanese bank, or a JPY receiving account from a cross-border provider, removes the intermediary fee problem; if the transfer has to cross a border, say so in the quote and agree who covers the charges, following the country-of-origin split JETRO describes (source).
- Decide what credit you are willing to extend before offering invoice billing. Look at the buyer’s registration, trading history and size, and cap your exposure at an amount you could write off. JETRO’s export collection guidance ranks prepayment as the lowest-risk method and post-delivery payment as the highest (source).
- Ask for the first order prepaid with a line that gives them a path forward: “For a first transaction we work on 前払い (maebarai, prepayment). From the second order we can move to 月末締め翌月末払い.” Framing it as a sequence rather than a judgement of their company keeps the deal moving.
- Set up reconciliation and a reminder ladder on day one. Record the expected payment date, the invoice number and the remitting entity’s name; check the account the morning after the payment date. If nothing arrives, send a neutral confirmation email at day one, a polite follow-up at day seven copying the purchasing contact, and a formal notice after that.
For what the invoice itself has to contain, see what a Japanese accounting team checks on an invoice. The same expectations show up before the sale, on your pricing page.
Template
The 支払条件 block of a quotation. Keep both languages on the same document.
■ 支払条件 / Payment terms
締め日: 毎月末日締め
Closing: last day of each month
支払期日: 翌月末日（銀行休業日の場合は翌営業日）
Due date: last day of the following month
(next business day if a bank holiday)
支払方法: 銀行振込
Method: bank transfer
通貨: 日本円（JPY）
Currency: Japanese yen (JPY)
振込手数料: 貴社ご負担でお願いいたします。
Transfer fee: to be borne by the remitting party.
振込先 / Remittance details:
銀行名 / Bank: 〇〇銀行 〇〇支店
口座種別 / Type: 普通
口座番号 / Number: 1234567
口座名義 / Name: カ）〇〇〇〇
お振込みの際は、請求書番号をご記入ください。
Please include the invoice number with your transfer.
初回お取引は前払いとさせていただいております。
The first transaction is on a prepayment basis.When to bring in a professional
A 税理士 (zeirishi, “certified tax accountant”) is the right person for questions about consumption tax treatment, withholding on cross-border payments, and whether any Japanese registration applies to your business. A 行政書士 (gyōseishoshi, “administrative scrivener”) handles company and permit paperwork if you set up a Japanese entity. Bring in a lawyer when a contract carries retention of title, penalties, or a large credit line. Writing your own payment terms, opening a receiving account, and chasing a late transfer are things you can handle yourself.
Common questions
Can we take a credit card from a Japanese company at all?
Sometimes. Stripe lists cards as supported in nearly every market and currency, so the technical side works (source). The obstacle is procedural: many purchasing departments pay approved vendors by transfer against an invoice, and a corporate card is reserved for small or ad hoc purchases.
Do we have to open a Japanese bank account?
No, though it removes most of the friction. A JPY receiving account from a cross-border payments provider can work; confirm with the buyer that their banking system can send to it before you promise anything.
Why does Stripe’s Japanese bank transfer option not appear for us?
JPY bank transfers through Stripe are offered to Stripe accounts whose business location is Japan, and Konbini has the same restriction (source). An account based elsewhere will not see them in the dashboard.
Who normally pays the transfer fee?
It is negotiated. Japanese buyers often expect 当方負担, where the fee is deducted from the amount you receive, unless the quote says otherwise. Writing 貴社ご負担 (the remitter’s side) into the payment terms is the moment to settle it.
How long does an overseas transfer take to arrive?
Longer than a domestic one. Stripe notes that international wires can take three to five business days to be credited and may arrive short because of fees charged in transit (source).
Kit
The B2B Paperwork Kit collects the documents a Japanese buyer expects in sequence: quotation, order confirmation, delivery note, invoice, and the three reminder emails, each in English and Japanese with the payment-terms block already filled in. See the kit, or start from selling to Japanese companies for the whole path from first contact to payment.
This guide goes stale when
- Stripe changes which payment methods it supports for Japan-based accounts, or opens JPY bank transfers and Konbini to accounts based outside Japan.
- Major Japanese banks change their terms or fees for receiving inbound overseas remittances, or the intermediary bank fee structure changes.
- The payment-term rules under 取適法 (the revised 下請法), in force since 2026-01-01, are amended again.
Sources
| Publisher | Document | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| stripe | 決済手段のサポート (Payment method support) | September 23, 2026 |
| stripe | 銀行振込による支払い (Bank transfer payments) | September 23, 2026 |
| stripe | コンビニ決済 (Konbini) | September 23, 2026 |
| jetro | 輸出代金の請求方法と送金に関する銀行諸費用の負担：日本 | September 23, 2026 |
| jetro | 輸出における代金回収等留意点：日本 | September 23, 2026 |
| meti | サプライチェーン全体での支払の適正化について事業者団体等に要請しました | September 23, 2026 |
Japan B2B Paperwork Kit
Twelve bilingual documents for selling to a Japanese company — quote, purchase order, delivery note, qualified invoice, payment terms, reminders and the glossary that decodes them.
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