Japan merchant PSP competitive scorecard

TL;DR

Japan’s merchant PSP (Payment Service Provider) market is more fragmented and more layered than the consumer-visible cashless landscape suggests. The market splits along at least four dimensions — (a) traditional card-gateway PSPs (GMO Payment Gateway, SB Payment Service, DG Financial Technology, GMO Epsilon), (b) QR aggregator PSPs (Netstars), (c) global checkout PSPs (Stripe Japan, PayPal Japan, Square Japan, Komoju), and (d) wallet-platform acquirers (Amazon Pay, Rakuten Payment, Recruit Card / 受取代行) — each with different merchant fee economics, settlement speed, vertical specialization, and M&A history. This scorecard sets twelve major PSPs side-by-side along the axes that matter to a merchant choosing a gateway and to a sector reader trying to understand who actually controls EC payment flows in Japan. It is the merchant-side companion to card issuer / acquirer / processor split and the operator-side companion to Japan payment scheme economics matrix.

Wiki route

This sits under payments index as the merchant-side PSP reference. Read it with Japan card acquiring stack for the technical-stack view, card issuer / acquirer / processor split for the role-separation framework, PSP merchant settlement risk for the settlement-cycle and merchant-exposure view, account-to-account payment in Japan for the A2A line that PSPs increasingly carry, merchant Bank Pay account direct-acquiring for the bank-side direct route, Japan payment scheme economics matrix for the cross-scheme economics this entry deliberately complements, and the operator anchors GMO Payment Gateway, GMO Epsilon, SB Payment Service, DG Financial Technology / DGFT, Netstars, freee, Money Forward, FamiMa Digital One, and Seven Payment Service.

Why this matrix matters

A merchant choosing a PSP — or a sector reader trying to read the Japan EC stack — typically misreads three structural points without a side-by-side. First, “PSP” is not one product: a card-acceptance gateway is structurally different from a QR aggregator, which is structurally different from a global checkout product like Stripe. Second, the acquiring role: some PSPs are pure technical processors that pass through to an external acquirer, others are themselves merchant-contracting operators (アクワイアラ) under the Installment Sales Act, and the merchant’s risk exposure differs accordingly (see PSP merchant settlement risk). Third, settlement speed and fee model: a small-merchant on a Square or PayPay merchant plan gets a fundamentally different settlement experience than a large enterprise on a GMO-PG or SB Payment Service contract. This scorecard surfaces all three.

GMO Payment Gateway (GMO-PG, TSE PRIME 3769)

GMO Payment Gateway is Japan’s largest pure-play PSP by merchant count and processed value. Founded 1995-03-25 as 株式会社カードコマース, renamed GMO-PG in 2000, listed on TSE Mothers in 2005, moved to TSE 一部 (now PRIME) in 2008. Consolidated subsidiary of GMO Internet Group. EC merchant base reportedly 30 万+ stores. Multi-product line: card-gateway, code-payment, convenience-store payment, bank-transfer collection, BtoB invoice / 後払い, Pay.JP developer SDK (the Stripe-style competitor), trans-Asia gateway via NextPay (Vietnam), ECPay (Taiwan). Strategic relationship with SMBC Card via SMBC GMO PAYMENT JV. Trans-action-lending sideline based on merchant payment data.

GMO-PG’s distinctive position: multi-acquirer relationship-broker — the PSP routes merchants to multiple card acquirers per brand, owns its own merchant-contracting operator registration on the METI クレジットカード番号等取扱契約締結事業者 list, and competes for high-volume merchant accounts where settlement reliability and integration depth matter more than headline fee rate.

GMO Epsilon (subsidiary of GMO-PG)

GMO Epsilon is GMO Payment Gateway’s small-and-medium-merchant focused PSP, structured as a separate brand to address a different merchant segment than GMO-PG’s enterprise / mid-market book. The two operate as sister entities within the GMO Internet Group payments umbrella, with GMO Epsilon handling the higher-volume / smaller-ticket merchant accounts (smaller EC stores, online services, content-charging merchants) and GMO-PG handling the larger enterprise contracts.

Distinctive position: two-brand small-merchant + enterprise split within one group — the GMO Internet Group runs both ends of the merchant-size spectrum via separate-brand PSPs, which is structurally different from Stripe (one product for all sizes) or Square (one product for small-and-micro).

SB Payment Service (SBPS, SoftBank Group)

SB Payment Service is the SoftBank Group’s PSP, deeply integrated with PayPay for code-payment processing and with Yahoo! Japan Shopping for EC-merchant acceptance. SBPS handles the SoftBank-group EC merchant base and external EC merchant base that wants integrated card + code + PayPay acceptance from a single PSP. It is a merchant-contracting operator on the METI クレジットカード番号等取扱契約締結事業者 list and a 包括信用購入あっせん業者 line operator.

Distinctive position: wallet-anchored PSP — SBPS’s PayPay integration gives it a structural advantage for merchants that want code-payment as a primary channel, while its SoftBank Group anchoring gives it relationship-strength with Yahoo! Japan Shopping / ZOZOTOWN / LINE-attached EC properties.

DG Financial Technology / DGFT (Digital Garage group)

DG Financial Technology / DGFT is the payment subsidiary of Digital Garage (TSE PRIME 4819), serving high-end EC and enterprise merchants with an emphasis on cross-border acceptance, multi-currency settlement, and integration with Square (Digital Garage was Square’s Japan partner before Square established its own Japan entity). DGFT also acts as an aggregator for Veritrans (a long-standing PSP brand acquired by Digital Garage).

Distinctive position: enterprise + cross-border PSP — DGFT differentiates on multi-currency handling, advanced fraud-screening, and the technology-partner ecosystem (DG holds investments in many fintech-adjacent startups), targeting merchants where international card acceptance and acceptance-rate optimization justify a premium fee structure over commodity PSPs.

Netstars (QR-aggregator pure-play)

Netstars is the leading multi-wallet QR aggregator in Japan, operating the StarPay merchant acceptance product that allows one terminal / one QR code to accept multiple code-payment wallets (PayPay, d払い, au PAY, 楽天ペイ, メルペイ, WeChat Pay, Alipay+, AppPay, and others). Targets merchant categories where multi-wallet acceptance via a single integration is structurally more efficient than signing each wallet contract directly — convenience stores, drugstores, restaurants, retail chains, and inbound-tourist-heavy merchants.

Distinctive position: wallet-agnostic gateway — unlike GMO-PG or SBPS (which lean card-first with code as an add-on), Netstars is purpose-built for the code-payment-first merchant and is the natural counterparty for cross-wallet acceptance demand. The structural risk is that wallet operators may push their own direct-merchant economics that bypass aggregators.

Square Japan (Block Inc. subsidiary)

Square Japan is the Japanese arm of Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.). Targets small / micro merchants with a card-reader + mPOS app + integrated payment-services package, identical in shape to its US product. Settlement speed differentiates Square: next-business-day settlement (and faster with Mizuho Bank / Sumitomo Mitsui Bank account holders) is the headline value proposition versus the T+M traditional merchant batch. Card brand acceptance covers Visa, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX, Diners, Discover, plus QR code payments (PayPay, etc.) and Suica / IC-card via the Square Reader.

Distinctive position: micro-merchant + frictionless onboarding — Square’s value proposition is “open an account on Saturday, accept payments by Monday” with no monthly fee and no minimum-volume requirement. Competes with Stripe (online-focused) by being more retail-POS-friendly, and with PayPay (free zero-fee promo) by offering credit-card brand acceptance which PayPay does not.

Stripe Japan

Stripe Japan is the Japanese arm of Stripe, Inc. Targets developers, startups, and digital-first merchants with API-first payment integration, supporting card brands (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX), code payments (PayPay, Konbini Payment, Bank Transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay), and recurring billing / subscription primitives. Stripe Japan does not operate its own physical POS hardware; the product is entirely online / app-embedded.

Distinctive position: developer-API-first — Stripe’s documentation depth, API ergonomics, and SDK quality make it the default choice for technical merchants building custom checkout, despite higher headline fee rates than negotiated rates from GMO-PG or SBPS for similar volume. Pay.JP (GMO-PG’s developer-SDK product) is the principal Japan-native competitor on this axis.

PayPal Japan

PayPal Japan (PayPal Pte. Ltd. Japan branch, PayPal Pte. Ltd. Japan) operates the PayPal checkout product for Japanese merchants and also owns Paidy (acquired 2021-09 for ~USD 2.7bn) which gives PayPal Japan a footprint in 後払い / BNPL adjacent to its core checkout business. PayPal’s merchant proposition emphasizes cross-border acceptance, buyer-protection, and integration with global checkout flows.

Distinctive position: cross-border-first — PayPal’s value proposition leans on its global acceptance footprint and is strongest for merchants selling internationally from Japan or selling to inbound foreign buyers. Domestic-first merchants have less PayPal preference than they did pre-2015 because domestic alternatives (GMO-PG, SBPS, Stripe) have matured. The Paidy ownership adds a 後払い lane that complements PayPal-checkout’s primarily card / wallet base.

Komoju (Degica, gaming / digital-content focused)

Komoju (株式会社 Degica) is a Tokyo-headquartered PSP focused on digital content, gaming, software, and inbound cross-border EC merchants. It supports a wide payment-method mix including international card brands, Konbini Payment, Pay-Easy (Bank Transfer), code payments, and 後払い / Atobarai (Komoju Atobarai is a Komoju own-brand BNPL product). Komoju Atobarai is a 個別信用購入あっせん registration on the METI list.

Distinctive position: vertical-specialized PSP — Komoju’s gaming / digital-content focus gives it expertise in micro-transaction billing, virtual-currency settlement, and the cross-border buyer mix typical of gaming merchants. Steam / Sony PlayStation / various gaming publishers are illustrative merchant segments.

Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay (Amazon Japan G.K. / Amazon Web Services Japan) is the Amazon-account-as-checkout product, allowing third-party merchants to accept payments via the buyer’s stored Amazon account (card-on-file, address-on-file). Targets EC merchants who want to reduce checkout friction by leveraging Amazon’s enrolled buyer base.

Distinctive position: account-anchor PSP — Amazon Pay’s value is the buyer-side stored account + Amazon Prime adjacency, not gateway efficiency. Merchant fee is competitive with card-gateway PSPs, but the strategic value to the merchant is buyer-conversion uplift from frictionless checkout rather than fee-rate efficiency.

Rakuten Payment / 楽天ペイメント

Rakuten Payment Inc. operates the Rakuten FG payments stack for merchants — Rakuten Pay (code payment), Rakuten Card acceptance, Rakuten Bank settlement, R-Card linkage. Closely integrated with Rakuten Card (card issuer) and the Rakuten Point loyalty layer. Targets merchants that benefit from Rakuten ecosystem buyer acquisition (Rakuten Members enrollment, Rakuten Point earn / redeem).

Distinctive position: ecosystem-anchored PSP — like SB Payment Service for SoftBank or Amazon Pay for Amazon, Rakuten Payment’s structural advantage is the captive buyer base of the Rakuten ecosystem. Merchants outside the Rakuten ecosystem can still use Rakuten Pay but lose the ecosystem-uplift component of the value proposition.

Recruit Card / Recruit MUFG Business

Recruit MUFG Business is the JV between Recruit Holdings and MUFG that operates the Recruit Card product and related merchant-services offerings, including Air PAY (a Recruit-operated mPOS / QR acceptance product) and Air Regi (POS integration). Air PAY is a meaningful card / code acceptance product in the small-merchant / restaurant / personal-service merchant segment in Japan.

Distinctive position: Recruit ecosystem + mPOS — Recruit’s HotPepper Beauty / HotPepper Gourmet / Jalan / SUUMO booking-and-discovery products give Air PAY a merchant-acquisition channel that no other PSP has. The combination of bookings flow + payment acceptance + POS integration is structurally hard to replicate.

Big comparison matrix table

PSP	Parent / group	Listing	Founded	Primary merchant base	Reported merchant count	Card brand support	Code payment support	A2A / Bank Pay support	Konbini / bank-transfer	Suica / IC-prepaid	BNPL / 後払い integration	Settlement speed (typical)	Fee model (small merchant baseline)	Vertical specialization	Acquirer role (own/external)	M&A / parent history
GMO-PG	GMO Internet Group	TSE PRIME 3769	1995 (as カードコマース)	Enterprise + mid-market EC	~30万+ stores	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX / Diners / Discover	PayPay / d払い / au PAY / 楽天ペイ via gateway	Bank Pay / 銀行振込	Yes (multi-konbini)	Limited	BtoB 後払い in-house + 3rd-party	Configurable T+5 to T+M	Negotiated by volume; high-volume rates among lowest	Multi-vertical; enterprise	Own merchant-contracting + multi-acquirer routing	GMO group internal; SMBC GMO PAYMENT JV with SMBC Card
GMO Epsilon	GMO Internet Group	Subsidiary	2000s era	Small-and-medium EC, content / subscription	Tens of thousands	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX	PayPay / d払い / au PAY etc.	Bank Pay	Yes	Limited	3rd-party 後払い integrations	T+M to T+5	Lower minimum; higher headline rate than GMO-PG enterprise	Small-merchant EC	Pass-through to GMO-PG infrastructure / external acquirer	GMO Internet Group internal positioning
SB Payment Service	SoftBank Group + PayPay FG	Subsidiary	2004 (Yahoo! ウォレット predecessor)	Yahoo! Japan Shopping, ZOZOTOWN, LINE-EC, external	Hundreds of thousands	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX	PayPay (deep integration) + 楽天ペイ / au PAY / d払い	Bank Pay	Yes	Limited	PayPay あと払い / BNPL integration	T+M traditional; faster on PayPay-anchored	Negotiated; PayPay-merchant favorable rates	SoftBank ecosystem + LINE-tied EC	Own merchant-contracting	Yahoo!ウォレット predecessor; restructured under PayPay FG
DG Financial Technology	Digital Garage (TSE PRIME 4819)	Subsidiary	Veritrans heritage	Enterprise + cross-border EC	Tens of thousands	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX / Diners / UnionPay	Yes (multi-wallet)	Bank Pay	Yes	Limited	3rd-party 後払い integrations	Configurable	Premium for enterprise cross-border	Enterprise cross-border	Own merchant-contracting	Digital Garage acquired Veritrans; was Square Japan-partner pre-Square direct entry
Netstars	Independent (Recruit Strategic Partners / others equity-back)	Non-listed	2009	Multi-wallet merchant acceptance	Hundreds of thousands of merchant locations (multi-wallet)	Limited card focus	All major code wallets + Alipay+ / WeChat Pay	Limited	Limited	Limited	Limited	T+M typical	Per-transaction multi-wallet fee	Code-first multi-wallet aggregation	Pass-through aggregator	Independent QR-pioneer; Recruit-adjacent investor base
Square Japan	Block, Inc. (US parent)	Subsidiary	2013 Japan entry	Micro / small merchant retail	Hundreds of thousands	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX / Diners / Discover	PayPay / d払い via Square Reader and code-accept	Limited	Limited	Suica / IC-card via Square Reader	Limited	Next-business-day (Mizuho / SMBC partner)	3.25-3.75% MDR; no monthly fee	Micro-merchant retail / restaurant	Own merchant-contracting	Block (US) parent; pre-Square Japan via DGFT-Square partnership
Stripe Japan	Stripe, Inc. (US parent)	Subsidiary	2016 Japan entry	Developer / startup / digital	Tens of thousands public	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX	PayPay / Konbini / Bank Transfer / Apple Pay / Google Pay	Limited via Bank Transfer	Konbini Payment, Bank Transfer	Limited	Limited (custom merchant-side integration)	Configurable	3.6% baseline; volume tiers	Developer-API-first / digital	Own merchant-contracting	Stripe (US) parent; partnership with mizuho-fg / SMBC for settlement
PayPal Japan	PayPal Holdings (US parent)	Subsidiary	2000s era Japan	Cross-border EC; SaaS; international merchant	Hundreds of thousands	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX (via PayPal wallet linkage)	PayPal wallet itself	Limited	Limited	Limited	Paidy (Paidy) 後払い integration	T+M; PayPal-wallet immediate to PayPal balance	3.6% + JPY 40 / tx baseline (varies)	Cross-border / international EC	Own merchant-contracting	Paidy acquired 2021-09 (~USD 2.7bn)
Komoju (Degica)	Degica (independent + investor-backed)	Non-listed	2013	Gaming / digital content / inbound EC	Tens of thousands	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX	PayPay / d払い / 楽天ペイ / au PAY	Bank Transfer	Konbini Payment, Pay-Easy	Limited	Komoju Atobarai (own-brand BNPL)	Configurable	Per-method pricing	Gaming / digital content / cross-border	Own merchant-contracting + own BNPL	Independent; investor-backed
Amazon Pay	Amazon Japan / Amazon US parent	Subsidiary	2007 Japan launch	EC merchants (Amazon-buyer-account leveragers)	Tens of thousands	Card-on-file via buyer Amazon account	Limited	Limited	Limited	Limited	Limited	Configurable	Comparable to card-gateway rates	EC checkout-friction reduction	Pass-through with buyer-account anchor	Amazon US parent strategy
Rakuten Payment	Rakuten FG	Subsidiary	Rakuten Pay 2016 launch	Rakuten-ecosystem merchant + external	Hundreds of thousands	Rakuten Card direct + Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX	Rakuten Pay anchored	Limited	Limited	Limited	Rakuten group BNPL adjacent	T+M; Rakuten ecosystem favored	Negotiated; Rakuten-ecosystem favorable	Rakuten ecosystem merchant	Own + Rakuten Card linkage	Rakuten Group internal restructuring
Recruit Card / Air PAY	Recruit Holdings + MUFG JV	Subsidiary	Air PAY 2012 launch	Small merchant + restaurant + personal-service	Hundreds of thousands of Air PAY accounts	Visa / MC / JCB / AMEX / Diners	PayPay / d払い / au PAY / 楽天ペイ etc.	Limited	Limited	Suica / IC-card via Air PAY Reader	Limited	T+M; Mizuho / SMBC-account next-day options	3.24-3.74% MDR; no monthly fee	Restaurant + beauty + small-service	Own merchant-contracting	Recruit-MUFG JV established for card / payments

Side-axis — GMV processed (rough public reporting indications)

Reported GMV / processed-value figures are not uniformly disclosed across this peer set, so this side-axis is partial. GMO Payment Gateway publishes annual processed-value in IR (in the trillions of yen range, reflecting its enterprise-merchant base). SB Payment Service processed-value is reported within SoftBank Group / PayPay FG consolidated disclosure rather than as a standalone PSP. DGFT processed-value is reported within Digital Garage segment disclosure. Square Japan, Stripe Japan, PayPal Japan, Komoju, Amazon Pay, and Rakuten Payment are not consistently standalone-disclosed at PSP segment level; readers should consult parent company IR for the disclosed component.

PSP	Processed-value disclosure surface	Order of magnitude (public-source indication)
GMO-PG	Own IR, quarterly	Trillions of yen annual processed value
SB Payment Service	SoftBank Group / PayPay FG consolidated	Trillions of yen if PayPay code-payment volume aggregated
DGFT	Digital Garage segment disclosure	Hundreds of billions to low-trillion yen
Netstars	Limited public; multi-wallet aggregated	Per-wallet processed not aggregated publicly
Square Japan	Block consolidated	Tens of billions of yen scale (Japan portion)
Stripe Japan	Not standalone disclosed	Not publicly disclosed
PayPal Japan	Not standalone disclosed	Not publicly disclosed
Komoju	Not standalone disclosed	Not publicly disclosed
Amazon Pay	Not standalone disclosed	Not publicly disclosed (Amazon segment)
Rakuten Payment	Rakuten Group segment disclosure	Trillions of yen if Rakuten Pay + Rakuten Card aggregated
Recruit / Air PAY	Recruit Holdings segment disclosure	Hundreds of billions of yen scale

Readers should treat any specific number as public-source-cited only and verify against the most recent IR for the year in question — processed-value figures move materially year-on-year as EC penetration shifts and PSP merchant churn occurs.

Cross-PSP technical differentiation

Capability	GMO-PG	GMO Epsilon	SBPS	DGFT	Netstars	Square	Stripe	PayPal	Komoju	Amazon Pay	Rakuten Pay	Recruit / Air PAY
EMV 3-DS 2.x compliance (2025-03 mandate)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A (code-first)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tokenization (network tokens)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Recurring billing / subscriptions	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Limited	Yes (Subscription)	Yes (Billing)	Yes (Subscriptions)	Yes	Limited	Yes	Limited
Apple Pay / Google Pay	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Limited	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Limited	Yes	Yes
Multi-currency settlement	Yes (limited)	Limited	Limited	Yes (strength)	Limited	Limited (Japan-only)	Yes	Yes	Yes (cross-border focus)	Limited (Japan-USD)	Limited	Limited
Marketplace / split-payment	Yes (custom)	Limited	Yes	Yes	Limited	Yes (some)	Yes (Connect)	Yes (Adaptive)	Yes	Limited	Yes	Limited
Custom reconciliation file	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Limited	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Inbound-tourist wallet support (Alipay+, WeChat Pay)	Yes (via partner)	Limited	Yes (via partner)	Yes (strength)	Yes (native)	Limited	Limited	Limited	Yes	Limited	Limited	Yes (via partner)

Fee economics — small-merchant view

For a 商店街 small merchant deciding which PSP to onboard, the headline fee comparison usually looks like this. Real fees are negotiated per merchant and per MCC.

PSP	Card MDR baseline (small merchant)	Per-tx fixed	Monthly minimum	Onboarding time	Hardware cost
GMO-PG	Negotiated by volume; typically 2.5-3.5%	Varies	Often required for enterprise	Days to weeks	EC: zero; POS: external
GMO Epsilon	3.0-3.6%	Varies	Lower than GMO-PG	Days to a week	EC: zero
SB Payment Service	Negotiated	Varies	Often required	Days to weeks	EC: zero
DGFT	Negotiated; premium-tier	Varies	Required for enterprise	Weeks	EC: zero
Netstars	Per-wallet rate (1.8-3.0% range typical)	Varies	Lower	Days to a week	Printed QR or terminal
Square Japan	3.25% Visa/MC; 3.75% JCB/AMEX	None	None	1 business day after approval	JPY 7,980 (Square Reader) or zero (mPOS via phone)
Stripe Japan	3.6% baseline	None	None	1-2 business days	None (online only)
PayPal Japan	3.6% + JPY 40 / tx (variable)	JPY 40	None	1-2 business days	None (online only)
Komoju	Per-method pricing (varies)	Varies	None	1-2 business days	None (online)
Amazon Pay	Comparable to card MDR	Varies	None	Days	None (online)
Rakuten Pay	Negotiated; Rakuten-ecosystem favorable	Varies	Lower	Days to a week	EC: zero
Air PAY	3.24% Visa/MC; 3.74% JCB/AMEX	None	None	1-2 weeks	Air PAY Reader free with subscription / promo

M&A and parent-history pattern

The Japanese PSP market has gone through three rough M&A / restructuring eras that this scorecard makes visible:

Pre-2010 — Bank-side card-processor consolidation. Bank-FG card-processors merged into the current MUFG NICOS / SMBC Card configurations, leaving room for pure-play PSPs to grow.
2010s — Pure-play PSP scaling. GMO Payment Gateway grew via GMO Internet Group umbrella + SMBC GMO PAYMENT JV; DGFT grew through Digital Garage’s Veritrans acquisition; SB Payment Service expanded via SoftBank Group restructuring; Netstars emerged as QR-aggregator pure-play.
2020s — Global checkout entry + ecosystem-anchor consolidation. Stripe Japan, Square Japan, and PayPal Japan / Paidy acquisition (2021-09) established global-checkout-PSP footprints; PayPay FG / SoftBank consolidated wallet-side acceptance under SB Payment Service; Rakuten Payment consolidated Rakuten-side acceptance.

A fourth era is plausibly emerging in the 2024-2026 window around BNPL integration (Paidy under PayPal, Komoju Atobarai, etc.) and A2A acceptance (merchant-direct Bank Pay) — both of which are still partial and re-shape the PSP economics.

Boundary cases

“Is Netstars a PSP or a wallet aggregator?” Both. Netstars provides the merchant gateway (PSP function) and the wallet-routing aggregation (multi-wallet acceptance). It is not a card-acquirer and is not on the METI クレジットカード番号等取扱契約締結事業者 list as a primary card-contracting operator, but it routes code-payment transactions through wallet-side contracts.
“Is freee or Money Forward a PSP?” Not in the classic sense — they are accounting / SaaS platforms that have payment-acceptance features (freee Pay, Money Forward Pay) but route through underlying PSPs (often GMO-PG, GMO Epsilon, or partner-acquirers). They are merchant-side software with payment integration, not PSPs themselves.
“Is FamiMa Digital One or Seven Payment Service a PSP?” They are convenience-store-FG payment operators with payment-acceptance capability for their own retail networks plus broader code-payment / wallet roles, but they are not multi-merchant PSPs in the GMO-PG / SBPS / DGFT sense. They sit closer to funds-transfer / prepaid boundary than to merchant-gateway PSP.
“What about JAL Payment Port?” It is a JAL Payment Port entity focused on JAL-group payments and merchant-direct settlement for JAL group / mileage program, not a multi-merchant general-PSP.
“What about UnionPay International Japan, Visa Worldwide Japan, or Mastercard Japan?” They are scheme / brand operators, not PSPs. They sit above the PSP layer in the role-stack — see card issuer / acquirer / processor split for the role separation.
“Where does a merchant acquirer like SMBC Card (as an acquirer line) fit?” SMBC Card is an issuer and an acquirer, not a PSP. A merchant’s relationship with SMBC Card is typically intermediated by a PSP (often GMO-PG via SMBC GMO PAYMENT JV) rather than a direct merchant-acquirer relationship. SMBC Card’s acquirer line shows up in the Japan card acquiring stack entry.
“How does this matrix relate to Japan payment scheme economics matrix?” That matrix covers card vs code vs A2A vs prepaid at the scheme class level. This matrix decomposes the PSP / merchant-gateway dimension within the merchant-acceptance side of all four scheme classes. The two are orthogonal.

Recent regulatory pressure on PSPs

Date	Source	What changed
2018	METI	改正割賦販売法 strengthened 加盟店調査 obligation — raised onboarding cost for PSPs that hold merchant-contracting operator registration
2020-2021	METI / J-CSC	Credit-card security guideline 5.0 / 5.1 — PCI DSS expectations, vulnerability-scan obligations, non-retention enforcement
2022-04-08	JFTC	Credit-card merchant fee report — pressure on PSP-merchant fee transparency
2023-06-01	METI + JFTC	JCB merchant-fee allocation rate disclosure — affects PSPs routing JCB volume
2024-2025	METI / J-CSC	Guideline 6.0 / 6.1: EMV 3-DS mandatory for EC card payments from 2025-03; non-retention rules tightened; vulnerability-scan obligations expanded — compliance burden falls heavily on EC-PSPs
2025-2026	METI	Continued pressure for fee disclosure extends from card class toward code-payment and prepaid PSP layers

The 2025-03 EMV 3-DS mandate is the most consequential change for the EC-PSP segment, since the compliance work falls on the PSP side to integrate 3-DS authentication into checkout flows.

Cross-references with other matrices

vs Japan payment scheme economics matrix: That matrix covers the card / code / A2A / prepaid scheme classes at the operator level. This matrix decomposes the merchant-side gateway / PSP layer across all four scheme classes, since most major PSPs accept multi-scheme payment.
vs Japan card acquiring stack: That entry covers the technical stack from POS / EC checkout to issuer settlement. This matrix names specific operators that sit at the gateway / PSP layer of that stack.
vs card issuer / acquirer / processor split: That entry establishes the role-separation framework. This matrix populates the PSP / processor column with named operators and shows which of them additionally hold the merchant-contracting operator role.
vs PSP merchant settlement risk: That entry covers the merchant-side risk profile of relying on PSPs for settlement. This matrix gives the operator-by-operator inventory that risk profile sits on top of.
vs Japan JCB issuer ecosystem positioning matrix and BNPL operator registry matrix: Those matrices cover the issuer-side and BNPL-operator-side respectively; this matrix is the merchant-gateway-side complement to both.

PSP-selection decision lens for a merchant

A small or mid-sized merchant in Japan that is selecting a PSP typically faces a four-way decision: card-acceptance footprint, code-payment acceptance footprint, settlement-speed requirement, and integration-complexity tolerance. The matrix supports the following decision-tree shortcut:

Merchant profile	Best-fit PSP cluster
Micro / individual / casual seller, retail POS	Square Japan (free reader, next-day settlement) or Air PAY (Recruit, similar economics with HotPepper-channel)
Small-to-medium EC, developer-friendly, digital-first	Stripe Japan or Komoju (vertical-specialized) or GMO Epsilon
Enterprise EC with multi-acquirer routing and integration depth	GMO Payment Gateway or DGFT (cross-border) or SB Payment Service (PayPay-anchored)
Cross-border EC selling to inbound foreign buyers	PayPal Japan or DGFT or Komoju (cross-border specialist)
Code-first multi-wallet acceptance (retail chain, convenience store, drugstore)	Netstars (multi-wallet aggregator)
Ecosystem-anchored merchant inside Rakuten / Amazon / PayPay / Recruit	Ecosystem-native PSP first (Rakuten Payment / Amazon Pay / SB Payment Service / Recruit), with general-PSP for non-ecosystem volume
High-volume restaurant / personal-service with booking-flow integration	Recruit / Air PAY (HotPepper Beauty / Gourmet integration)
Gaming / digital content / micro-transaction merchant	Komoju (vertical specialist)

The matrix does not produce a single “best” answer — the merchant’s specific operational profile, settlement-cycle needs, and integration capability determine which PSP cluster fits, and many merchants run multiple PSPs for different volume slices (e.g., GMO-PG for primary card acceptance + Netstars for multi-wallet code + Square for in-person events).

Sources

GMO Payment Gateway corporate site and IR: https://corp.gmo-pg.com/ and https://corp.gmo-pg.com/ir/
GMO Epsilon (Epsilon): https://www.epsilon.jp/
SB Payment Service (SBペイメントサービス): https://www.sbpayment.jp/
DG Financial Technology (DGFT): https://www.dgft.jp/
Netstars (StarPay): https://netstars.co.jp/
Square Japan: https://squareup.com/jp/
Stripe Japan: https://stripe.com/jp
PayPal Japan business: https://www.paypal.com/jp/business
Komoju (Degica): https://komoju.com/ja/
Amazon Pay Japan: https://pay.amazon.co.jp/
Rakuten Payment: https://payment.rakuten.co.jp/
Recruit Card / Air PAY: https://recruit-card.jp/
METI: 登録包括信用購入あっせん業者 list portal — https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/economy/consumer/credit/115tourokujigyousyaitiran.html
METI: クレジットカード番号等取扱契約締結事業者 PDF — https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/economy/consumer/credit/teiketsuichiran.pdf
FSA: licensed / registered operators portal — https://www.fsa.go.jp/menkyo/menkyo.html
FSA: 資金移動業者 list PDF — https://www.fsa.go.jp/menkyo/menkyoj/shikin_idou.pdf
Payments Japan Association publications — https://paymentsjapan.or.jp/category/publications/