This is an English translation of our Japanese article. The Japanese version, the Kita City portal and the official Hoku Pay site are authoritative. The terms below are those the official site published on 17 September 2026; check it for the latest position before acting.
Last updated: 24 September 2026. Based on the Tokyo Kita City portal, the official Hoku Pay site (notices posted 17 September 2026), Kita City budget and supplementary budget documents, the mayor's press conference transcript, and the Kita City newsletter.
The short answer. Kita City's digital local currency, Hoku Pay, goes live on Monday 5 October 2026. On 17 September the official site published the terms, so figures that were previously only proposed or press-reported are now confirmed. [Hoku Pay official]
- 30%-premium Hoku Pay: 5,000 yen buys 6,500 yen of value. 280,000 units in total, allocated by lottery, up to 10 units per person. Applications run from 5 to 25 October. Non-residents can apply
- 500 points for downloading: first 60,000 people. Open to anyone
- 1,500 points for resident verification: first 30,000 people who verify as Kita residents with their My Number Card
The two first-come offers are the ones to hurry for. The premium issue is a lottery, so applying any time before the 25 October deadline is enough.
Graduating from "Shibusawa-kun Pay": the ward builds its own rails
Kita City has issued premium digital vouchers before, under the name Shibusawa-kun Pay, starting in fiscal 2024. But the payment rails were not its own — it ran on PayPay.
At the 9 February 2026 press conference on the annual budget, the mayor put it this way.
"We will develop Shibusawa-kun Pay, introduced from fiscal 2024, into a new digital local currency. It will be usable not only by residents but by people who work here, study here, and visit. It will promote sustained economic activity within the ward and circulation of money within the area." (Kita City mayoral press conference transcript, 9 February 2026)
Hoku Pay is therefore a shift from borrowing someone else's payment app to owning the rails. The name combines Kita ("hoku") with hoku-hoku, the warm feeling of contentment; the logo is built around cherry blossom. After a competitive proposal process with two entrants, Pocket Change Inc. was ranked first for contract negotiation. A cross-comparison with the other ward and municipal pay apps is in Japan's Municipal Pay Apps: 6 Reward Schemes Compared.
The schedule: from application to expiry
Here are the dates the official site has published, in order. There are four stages — apply, lottery, purchase, spend — and each has a deadline. [Hoku Pay official]
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 29 July 2026 | Merchant applications opened (done) |
| 17 September 2026 | Official site publishes the terms for the 30%-premium issue and the two point campaigns (done) |
| Thu 1 October 2026 | Hoku Pay help desk opens on the first floor of Hokutopia (until 28 December) |
| Mon 5 October 2026 | App launch / applications open for the 30%-premium issue / download and resident-verification campaigns begin |
| Sun 25 October 2026 | Applications close for the 30%-premium issue |
| 26 October – 1 November 2026 | Lottery period |
| Mon 2 November 2026 | Lottery results sent by app and email from 10 a.m. / purchasing opens |
| Sun 22 November 2026 | Purchasing closes for successful applicants |
| Wed 31 March 2027 | The 30%-premium issue expires (both the premium and the amount you topped up) |
| Fri 30 April 2027 | Points from the download and resident-verification campaigns expire |
You only have three weeks to buy after winning. Lottery results arrive from 10 a.m. on Monday 2 November. Top-ups for the units you won must be made by Sunday 22 November. Put both dates in your calendar so you do not apply and then forget to buy.
The 30%-premium issue
This is the headline. A premium-bearing digital local currency issued by the ward at 30% — up from the 20% of the old Shibusawa-kun Pay.
"Buy one unit for 5,000 yen and it becomes 6,500 yen of value (1,500 yen extra)." "280,000 units are on sale in total. Allocation is by lottery, and each person may apply for up to 10 units." "Anyone may apply, not only Kita residents." (Official Hoku Pay site, 17 September 2026) [Hoku Pay official]
One unit versus ten
1 unit: 5,000 yen for 6,500 yen of value → uplift 1,500 yen
10 units (the cap): 50,000 yen for 65,000 yen of value → uplift 15,000 yen
Total issuance is 280,000 units × 6,500 yen = 1.82 billion yen, which matches the "1.8 billion yen or more" in the ward's budget papers. If everyone applied for 10 units, 280,000 units would cover only 28,000 people.
How to top up, and when it expires
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Applying | Mon 5 October – Sun 25 October 2026, in the app. Up to 10 units per person |
| Top-up unit | Multiples of 5,000 yen. No fee |
| Top-up methods | Credit card (identity check with a My Number Card required) / Seven Bank ATM (cash) / convenience-store payment (cash). No bank transfer |
| Where to spend | Participating shops in Kita City |
| Expiry | Both the premium and the amount you topped up: until Wed 31 March 2027 |
The money you put in expires too. The official site warns that "not only the premium points but also the topped-up amount has a validity period". The date is 31 March 2027, so only buy as many units as you can spend by the end of the fiscal year.
For reference, the ward's paper premium voucher for fiscal 2026 sold at 10,000 yen a book for 12,000 yen of value (a 20% premium), two books per person, 10,000 books, and sold out. Its expiry ran to 31 March 2028. The digital issue pays a higher rate but expires a year earlier.
500 points for downloading, 1,500 for resident verification
Separate from the premium issue, there are points simply for installing the app. These are first come, not a lottery. Both start on 5 October and may end early once the cap is reached.
500 points for anyone
The first 60,000 people who download the app and register a new account get 500 points (worth 500 yen). The official site says "anyone may take part, not only Kita residents". [Hoku Pay official]
1,500 points for residents only
The first 30,000 residents get 1,500 points (worth 1,500 yen). The condition is verifying as a Kita resident with your My Number Card. The points go into a separate "Kita resident wallet", not your main wallet. [Hoku Pay official]
The 1,500 points were budgeted as a 45,000 thousand yen item for the digital local currency project in the supplementary budget (No. 4) proposal for fiscal 2026, published on 26 August. [Kita City] 45 million yen divided by 1,500 points is exactly 30,000 people. There is no slack in the budget.
| Item | Download | Resident verification |
|---|---|---|
| Points | 500 points | 1,500 points |
| Who | Anyone (first 60,000) | People who verify as Kita residents with a My Number Card (first 30,000) |
| Campaign period | Mon 5 October 2026 – Wed 31 March 2027. May end early once the cap is reached | |
| Points valid until | Fri 30 April 2027 | |
Residents: have your My Number Card ready. The resident-verification cap is 30,000, half of the ward's target of about 60,000 users by the end of fiscal 2026. You cannot verify without the card, so get it ready before 5 October.
So how much is it worth?
Adding up the confirmed figures, a Kita resident who receives everything gets the following.
| Component | Uplift | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Download campaign | 500 points | First 60,000, anyone |
| Resident-verification campaign | 1,500 points | First 30,000, verified as a Kita resident with a My Number Card |
| 30%-premium issue | 1,500 yen per unit (15,000 yen for 10 units) | Lottery, up to 10 units per person, open to anyone |
| Total (1 unit won) | 3,500 yen | |
| Total (10 units won) | 17,000 yen | |
Non-residents — people who commute into Kita, study there, or visit to shop — can get the 500 download points and apply for the premium issue. Only the 1,500 points are residents-only. A non-resident who wins 10 units gets 15,500 yen of uplift in total.
First-come caps can fill fast. The download offer closes at 60,000 people and resident verification at 30,000. Residents should have their My Number Card ready so they can register straight away on 5 October.
Points for taking part, not just for spending — a first among the 23 wards
One design choice sets Hoku Pay apart from other wards' apps: you can earn points by joining community activities.
The mayor said the scheme would "introduce a mechanism allowing points earned through community activities to be used at participating shops", naming three qualifying activities for fiscal 2026.
- The coming-of-age gathering
- The food education fair
- The shopping-street community supporters programme
The third recruits and registers people interested in running shopping-street events and working on the challenges those streets face; the mayor described it as "a ward-original initiative, the first among the 23 wards". Supporters receive digital local currency points.
On headline shopping rebates alone, Shibuya's Hachi Pay (8% year-round with ward verification) and Saitama's Sai Coin (3% on top-ups) are clearly higher. Hoku Pay front-loads its first-year campaigns instead, and no standing rebate rate has been published. The weight sits on earning by participating.
For shops in Kita: three fees at zero
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Setup cost | 0 yen |
| Payment fee | 0 yen (for the time being) |
| Transfer fee | 0 yen (for the time being) |
| Equipment needed | Just place a QR code. No special hardware or till modification, though an internet-connected PC is needed for operations such as cancellations |
| Settlement cycle | Payments from the 1st to the 15th land at month end; payments from the 16th to month end land on the 15th of the following month |
| Applying | Via the form on the official Hoku Pay site. Applications are checked and screened |
Shops applying late will not make the launch. The Kita City newsletter of 1 August 2026 states that shops wanting to accept Hoku Pay from 5 October are "recommended to apply by the end of August". That recommended date has now passed, but shops can still apply to register.
The same issue listed briefings for businesses on 7, 12 and 27 September and 11 and 21 October (advance booking; attendance is not required to apply).
Note the qualifier on the zero payment fee: "for the time being". Shibuya's Hachi Pay sets 0% permanently for small and medium-sized businesses and sole proprietors, whereas Hoku Pay's wording is time-limited. Watch the terms and the ward's announcements for any future change.
What to do now
- Residents: have your My Number Card ready. You need it for the 1,500-point resident verification
- On 5 October, download the app and register. Both the 500 points and the 1,500 resident points are first come
- Apply for the 30%-premium issue by 25 October. Up to 10 units per person. It is a lottery, so there is no need to rush on day one
- Check the lottery result from 10 a.m. on 2 November (app and email)
- If you win, top up for the units you won by 22 November. It expires on 31 March 2027
If smartphones are a barrier. There is a Hoku Pay help desk on the first floor of Hokutopia (1-11-1 Oji), open from Thursday 1 October to Monday 28 December 2026, weekdays 9:00–17:00, no booking needed. From 5 October, help sessions for users will also be held at facilities around the ward. For phone or email help, contact the Hoku Pay support desk (050-3653-8635 / support@hoku-pay.tokyo). [Hoku Pay official]
The supplementary budget proposal also carried 3,896 thousand yen for a smartphone advice desk aimed at closing the digital divide for older residents, planned at mobile carrier shops in the ward from January to March 2027 (by phone booking).
How serious is the ward about this?
The budget papers allocate 690,000 thousand yen across the 2026 industry revitalisation vision and the digital local currency project together. The ward's industrial and economic budget rose by about 900 million yen on the back of this currency and a large premium voucher programme. Reaching 60,000 users and 1,000 shops in half a year is an aggressive target.
The flip side is that the first year's campaigns are likely to be the most generous. These rebates run on municipal budgets, and launch periods are typically the peak. Shibuya's Hachi Pay likewise opened with campaigns totalling roughly 450 million yen.
Summary
- Kita Ward's digital local currency "Hoku-Pay" launched its app on October 5, 2026.
- The 30%-premium Hoku-Pay sells in ¥5,000 units for ¥6,500 of value. It is first-come-first-served and lottery-based, capped at 280,000 units total, up to 10 per person; applications run October 5-25 and are open to non-residents too.
- The first 60,000 people to download the app get 500 points, and the first 30,000 who verify ward residency with their My Number card get 1,500 points.
- Purchases for winning lottery entries run November 2-22. The usage deadline, including charged balances, is March 31, 2027.
- There is no cost for merchants to join, and no transaction or transfer fees, for the time being.
Sources
- Official Hoku Pay site, notice on applying for the 30%-premium Hoku Pay (17 September 2026)
- Official Hoku Pay site, notice on the app-launch download campaign (17 September 2026)
- Official Hoku Pay site, notice on the resident-verification campaign (17 September 2026)
- Official Hoku Pay site, notice on user help sessions and the Hoku Pay help desk (17 September 2026)
- Tokyo Kita City, "Kita City digital local currency project: Hoku Pay"
- Official Hoku Pay site
- Kita City press release, "Supplementary budget (No. 4) for fiscal 2026 compiled" (26 August 2026)
- Kita City, supplementary budgets (explanatory document for the fiscal 2026 supplementary budget No. 4, updated 16 September 2026)
- Kita City, "Main projects in the fiscal 2026 budget proposal" (PDF)
- Kita City, mayoral press conference transcript, 9 February 2026 (PDF)
- Kita City, Hoku Pay merchant recruitment flyer (PDF)
- Kita City, digital local currency project proposal review result
- Kita City, sale of premium paper vouchers
This article is general information based on published material and does not recommend any particular app or municipality. The terms of the 30%-premium issue and of the download and resident-verification campaigns are taken from the notices the official Hoku Pay site posted on 17 September 2026. First-come campaigns may end early once the cap is reached. Check the Kita City and Hoku Pay official sites for the latest position before acting.
