Matsushita Electric Industries, the leading consumer electronics company in Japan, has launched an experiment of a cashless train riding system in Hokkaido, a Northern Island in Japan.
For the month-long experiment to be conducted until March 15, Matsushita provided a handset with a built-in adaptor. In the near future, Matsushita will release a new handset with an untouched type IC chip on it.
During the experiment, 60 commuters of the train lines in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, will use the specially made handset. Matsushita’s handset has two choices for payment systems: postpaid or prepaid. Another handset equipped with credit card payment is also used for the experiment. For the user, the maximum payment for a month is limited to Yen 30,000 (US$253).
