The predilection for cash is more cultural than technological I think - they&#x27;ve had NFC payments w Suica cards for decades.<p>I don&#x27;t think their PCs are particularly backwards either - they have some ultrabooks that never make their way to the US that are pretty sexy. Component pricing is a bit more expensive than the US (about 30% even with Yen devaluation) but you can say the same for just about anywhere in the world (heck, I&#x27;m in TW right now and even the best pricing is at parity w US pricing, on average it&#x27;s 20% more even though half the brands are HQ&#x27;d here).<p>For a time last year due to the Yen devaluation, prices for Apple products was ~15% cheaper than stateside.