Japan Android entry card: separate Play wallet, carrier and cash routes from the iOS card

This is the Google Play companion to the Japan iOS first-test card. Use it to decide which Play payment routes to observe before spend; do not treat it as a rewrite of the Apple storefront evidence. Read the companion iOS first-test card for Apple storefront evidence; this Android card does not replace it.

What the official record establishes

Google documents accepted payment methods for Japan. Documented route examples for this card: Merpay, PayPay, Edy, named carrier billing (Docomo, au, SoftBank, Rakuten), PayPal, Play balance, and cash at named convenience stores (cash cannot pay subscriptions). Google’s Japan payment record also lists American Express, Mastercard, Visa and JCB. Methods can change, and the live eligibility notes still apply. Country payment documentation is not proof that your particular game is approved, distributed or purchasable there; confirm distribution and buyer currency in Play Console against the supported-locations record.

For digital goods and in-app features, Play’s payments policy requires Google Play’s billing system unless an enrolled alternative-billing or external-offers programme applies. A first test that has not enrolled in those programmes should observe Play Billing, not an invented off-Play checkout. User-choice or alternative billing eligibility for Japan is programme-specific; see Google’s user choice billing overview before treating an alternative path as in scope.

Shared Play readiness that can block an update before any country test is useful: target API requirements (new apps and updates must target Android 16 / API 36 from 31 August 2026, with an extension path to 1 November 2026); Play Billing Library 8+ by the same August date; and 16 KB page-size support for apps targeting Android 15+, with unsupported updates blocked from 1 February 2027. These are build checks, not country performance claims.

The first test to run

Run the same configured Play product across the wallet, carrier and cash-or-balance paths the team intends to claim. Record the Play purchase sheet, payment method actually selected, response state and entitlement result for each route. Label an existing Play balance spend as balance, not as the funding method that created that balance. Cash convenience-store paths cannot be recorded as subscription coverage.

Localise the observed journey

Review Japanese text in the playable and the Play-distributed build, including line breaks, numeric rewards and narrow confirmation buttons on the Play Billing sheet. Keep the interaction mechanic fixed while checking comprehension. A successful localisation walkthrough is not a creative performance claim.

Keep the decision tied to evidence

Use the editable launch checklist and CSV evidence matrix to keep documented availability separate from actual tests. Both include explicit untested states. The country card supplies no CPI, ROAS, payer-share estimate or legal clearance. Local expert review, game-specific distribution checks and real account observations remain outstanding.

Before a paid test, define the campaign identifiers, install cohort, offer event and purchase outcome you intend to reconcile across the ad network, MMP and Play order or voided-purchase signals. Inspect a permitted test transaction end to end, then preserve the raw event references. A successful walkthrough establishes implementation evidence for that case; it cannot establish campaign incrementality or expected acquisition economics.

Background in the existing archive: Japan: what Western studios miss and Text-free playable design for global campaigns. These are contextual links, not a certification of every archived claim.

Research checked 19 September 2026. Draft pending human editorial and local-market review. No observed campaign or purchase results are claimed.