{"id":50568,"date":"2017-03-14T14:25:26","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T08:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=50568"},"modified":"2017-03-14T14:25:26","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T08:55:26","slug":"square-signs-1200-year-old-buddhist-temple-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=50568","title":{"rendered":"Square Signs Up 1,200-Year-Old Buddhist Temple in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nSquare Inc. has just scored its oldest customer ever — a 1,200-year-old Buddhist temple in central Japan.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nVisitors to Mount Koya in Wakayama prefecture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will be able to to buy souvenirs and pay entry fees using\u00a0Square\u2019s white credit card readers, according to a joint statement from the payments company and the religious group operating the facilities. The service will start in time for the Golden Week holidays in early May, Japan\u2019s busiest travel season.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\u201cThe time spent on tabulation and accounting can now be used more effectively,\u201d said Shigeo Otani, head of finances at the temple that celebrated its 1,200th anniversary<\/a> two years ago. \u201cWe should use technology if it helps the pursuit of essence.\u201d\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nSquare is seeking a foothold in a country where people still prefer paying with cash.\u00a0Jack Dorsey, Square\u2019s executive officer who also leads Twitter Inc., is taking advantage of Japan\u2019s push to make credit-card payments available at all of the country\u2019s major temples and shrines ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games. In a survey of overseas tourists, 68 percent of respondents said they would increase spending if more locations accepted plastic. Visitors from abroad reached 24 million in 2016, topping the record for a fourth straight year, according to the nation\u2019s tourism organization.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nMount Koya had almost 2 million visitors in 2015, according to the Wakayama government.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nAdoption by a popular tourist destination could help the San Francisco-based company make its white square card-reader dongles more recognizable. While Square was early to introduce card readers that plug into iPhones or iPads, it now competes with similar offerings from PayPal Holdings Inc., Japanese startup Coiney Inc. and online retailer Rakuten Inc. Square doesn\u2019t release sales numbers for Japan.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\u201cFrom new businesses to temples founded 1,200 years ago, our technology can help ensure sales are never missed just because a customer is not carrying cash,\u201d Dorsey wrote in an email.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Square Inc. has just scored its oldest customer ever — a 1,200-year-old Buddhist temple in central Japan. Visitors to Mount Koya in Wakayama prefecture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will be able to to buy souvenirs and pay entry fees using\u00a0Square\u2019s white credit card readers, according to a joint statement from the payments company and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}