Racing in Japan – How to Pay for your Entry
This post is a little out of order, but I’ll fix that in the subsequent posts. What I want to cover is how someone finds, enters and pays for cycling events in Japan. Since all the communication needs to be in Japanese and the payment methods are somewhat foreign as well, there are some unique challenges to foreign participants in Japanese events.
The overall process goes something like this:
1) Find an event(s) you wish to participate in. This can be by flyers at bike shops, info from your friends, websites, etc. Almost every event will then have a correpsonding web site to check out for more info on how to register.
2) Registration. Events will either have direct registration on their website by downloading a form then faxing it in, or they’ll send you to one of the major event portals where can register and pay. The most common portal for cycling events is call Sports Entry. (http://www.sportsentry.ne.jp/search.php?ct=c) And there’s the URL which allows you to search by types of events (hillclimb, road, etc)
3) After you’ve registered, then you need to pay. This is where things get a little tricky. You may have choice of either bank transfer or convenience store payment. And in some cases credit card – though, thats not as popular or used in Japan. For this demo, we’ll be using the convenience store method since it is widely used, and also available by foreign person in Japan.
Paying By Convenience Store:
To use the convenience store system, you would have checked that payment choice in your application then the payment information instructions will be emailed or sent to you. They will look something like this:
You take the instructions to the convenience store and then choose the payment method on the screen of the special Multi Pay KIOSK. The Kiosk will print you a receipt which you take to the cashier, who scans it and then you pay. After the payment is received, the system will automatically register your payment, and if everything is fine, you will be registered as a Paid Entrant!
I’ve made a simple video showing the payment process, live and in action, for an upcoming Hillclimb.
