(げんきん)

cash

(つかう)

to use

(みせ)

shop, store

(ひろがる)

to spread

(にほん)

Japan

(すこしずつ)

little by little

(ふえる)

to increase; to grow

(きゃく)

Customer; guest

(かーど)

card

(すまーとふぉん)

smartphone

(りょうきん)

fee, charge

(はらう)

to pay

(おかね)

money

(かぞえる)

to count

(じかん)

time

(みじかい)

short

(りてん)

advantage, merit

(せいふ)

government; administration

(しはらい)

payment

(デジタルか)

digitalization

(すすめる)

to advance; to move forward

(がいこく)

foreign country

(くる)

to come

(かんこうきゃく)

tourist; sightseer

(ようい)

preparation; readiness

(かいもの)

shopping

(わかい)

young

(ひと)

person / people

(ちゅうしん)

center; core

(さいふ)

wallet, purse

(もつ)

to have; to hold

(でかける)

to go out

(いっぽう)

on the other hand / meanwhile

(しんぱい)

worry / concern

(こえ)

voice

(こうれいしゃ)

elderly person

(そうさ)

operation, handling

(にがて)

not good at, poor at

(また)

again

(ていでん)

power outage / blackout

(つうしん)

communication, correspondence

(こしょう)

breakdown, malfunction

(おきる)

to happen, occur

(せんもんか)

expert, specialist

(たいせつ)

important

(はなす)

to speak, talk

try to ~; be about to ~

Expresses an attempt/intention. Used to say China 'was about to / trying to' tighten rare earth exports.

to arrange in advance so that ~

Combines ようにする (make it so that) with ておく (do in advance) in the expert's advice: 現金も使えるようにしておくことが大切です.

easy to ~ / tends to ~

Used in 'うつりやすくて' meaning 'easily contagious / easy to catch'.

to become no longer / to disappear

Indicates a change where something ceases to exist or can no longer be done. Here it describes that prayer gatherings can no longer be held in Hong Kong.

it's okay not to ~; don't have to ~

Expresses that there is no obligation or necessity to do something.

come toward (action approaching)

Indicates motion toward the speaker or a location. Here it describes rocks flying toward people.

for ~ / from the perspective of ~

Indicates a point of view or perspective. Used twice here for 'the company' and 'the Vietnamese people'.

is doing, has been doing (ongoing state/action)

Expresses a continuing action or resulting state. Formed with て-form + いる. Can describe an action in progress or a state resulting from a past change.

called/named ~

Used to introduce or name something. In this article, 「鳥貴族」という店 means 'a store called Torikizoku'.

without doing; don't do

Negative te-form used to indicate doing something without another action, or as a soft command.

if / when (natural consequence)

Conditional と indicating a natural or expected result. 一緒に捨てると…火が出て means 'if you throw them away together, fire starts.'

plain negative modifying a noun

The plain negative 足りない sits in front of 町 to describe it: お金が足りない町 (towns where money is short).

現金を使わない店が広がる

Cashless shops are spreading

日本では、現金を使わない店が少しずつ増えています。

In Japan, shops that do not take cash are gradually increasing.

客はスマートフォンやカードで料金を払います。

Customers pay the charge with a smartphone or a card.

店にとっては、お金を数える時間が短くなるという利点があります。

For the shops there is the advantage that the time spent counting money becomes shorter.

政府も、支払いのデジタル化を進めようとしています。

The government, too, is trying to push forward the digitalization of payments.

外国から来た観光客は、日本のお金を用意しなくてもいいので、買い物がしやすくなります。

Tourists who come from abroad do not have to prepare Japanese money, so shopping becomes easier for them.

若い人を中心に、財布を持たないで出かける人も増えてきました。

Mainly among young people, the number who go out without carrying a wallet has been growing.

一方で、心配する声もあります。

On the other hand, there are also voices of concern.

高齢者の中には、スマートフォンの操作が苦手な人もいます。

Among elderly people there are some who are not good at operating a smartphone.

また、停電や通信の故障が起きると、支払いができなくなります。

Also, if a power outage or a communications failure occurs, payment becomes impossible.

専門家は「現金も使えるようにしておくことが大切です」と話しています。

Experts say, "It is important to keep things set up so that cash can be used as well."