Saitama's Sai Coin: 3% Just for Topping Up

This is an English translation of our Japanese article. The Japanese version, the Saitama City portal and the official Saitama City Minna no App site are authoritative. Terms change without notice and campaigns end early once a budget is exhausted, so check the official notices before relying on any figure here.

Last updated: 30 August 2026. Based on the Saitama City portal and the news releases and published material on the official Saitama City Minna no App site.

The short answer. What sets Saitama's Sai Coin apart from other local currencies is that points land the moment you top up, before you buy anything. Top up from a credit card or bank account and you get 3% back in "Tamapon" points; top up in cash and you get 2%. This applies to top-ups made on or before 31 March 2027. And because Sai Coin also settles municipal and prefectural tax, property tax, national health insurance premiums and water bills, paying those alone effectively returns 3%.

"3% even if you never spend it" is an unusual design

The first article in this series covered Shibuya's Hachi Pay. That scheme pays a higher headline rate — 8% all year — but only rewards you when you pay a merchant, and it caps out at 8,000 points a month.

Sai Coin awards points at a different moment entirely. 3% of the amount lands the instant you load the wallet. It is settled before you ever set foot in a shop. The rate looks modest next to 8%, but there is no requirement to shop your way to a ceiling, and — as below — the balance can go toward taxes and water bills, which makes it easy to use up in ordinary life.

3%Top-up by card or bank account

2%Top-up in cash

31 Mar 2027Deadline for eligible top-ups

180 daysTamapon expiry

The Saitama City Minna no App launched on 31 July 2024 and runs the first digital local currency operated by a government-designated city. It is managed by Tsunagu Co., Ltd., a regional trading company set up with investment from Saitama City and local business bodies. By 27 April 2026 it had passed 380,000 users, with more than 3,000 participating merchants. A cross-comparison alongside the pay apps of the five Tokyo wards is in Japan's Municipal Pay Apps: 6 Reward Schemes Compared.

First, tell the three kinds of money apart

Type	How you get it	Where it works
Sai Coin	Electronic money topped up from a designated bank account, credit card, Seven Bank ATM, or a post office counter in the city	All participating merchants
Tamapon	Points earned by topping up Sai Coin and other means. One point equals one yen	Only merchants with a sales floor of 1,000 square metres or less, or a company headquartered in the city or a shop run by a resident
Administrative points	Points received as a benefit from the city	Eligible merchants, goods and services are set separately for each benefit scheme

This is the catch. Sai Coin works at every participating merchant, but Tamapon does not work at large stores. The stated aim is to support local shops, so the points are confined to floors of 1,000 square metres or less, or businesses headquartered in the city or run by a resident. Take the 3% you earned to a large supermarket and it will be rejected.

The top-up rebate: terms and what comes back

Item	Detail
Rate	Credit card or financial institution account: 3% / cash: 2%
Eligible period	Top-ups made on or before 31 March 2027
When points land	By the following day as a rule
Prerequisite	My Number card authentication is required to top up
Amount per top-up	1,000 to 49,000 yen, in units of 1,000 yen (bank account top-ups)
Tamapon expiry	180 days from the last award or last use

Topped up over a year	Card or account (3%)	Cash (2%)
120,000 yen (10,000 a month)	3,600 points	2,400 points
360,000 yen (30,000 a month)	10,800 points	7,200 points
600,000 yen (50,000 a month)	18,000 points	12,000 points
1,200,000 yen (100,000 a month)	36,000 points	24,000 points

Avoid topping up in cash. The same 100,000 yen returns 3,000 points by card or account and only 2,000 in cash — a 1,000-point gap. Card top-ups also earn your card's own points, widening the difference further.

There are four routes: a designated bank account, a credit card, Seven Bank ATMs, and post office counters within the city. From 27 August 2026 direct debit from a Japan Post Bank account was added (app version 163 or later required).

The best use is paying tax and utility bills

Sai Coin has an "invoice payment" function: scan a payment slip issued by Saitama City with your phone and settle it in Sai Coin. The range of eligible items is unusually wide, and this is where the app earns its keep.

Public charges payable with Sai Coin (as of 1 April 2026)
Municipal and prefectural tax, forest environment tax (ordinary collection)	Property tax and city planning tax (land and buildings)
Property tax (depreciable assets)	Light vehicle tax (type levy)
National health insurance tax	Long-term care insurance premiums (ordinary collection)
Late-stage elderly medical insurance premiums (ordinary collection)	Childcare fees
After-school club fees	Cemetery management fees
School lunch fees	Japan Sport Council parental contributions
Municipal housing rent	Municipal housing parking fees
Water and sewerage charges	Contributions and handling fees, among others

Municipal housing rent and parking fees were added in April 2026 and apply to slips issued from that month. The function requires app version 125 or later.

The rebate is already locked in at top-up. Because the 3% attaches when you load the wallet, nothing changes depending on what you then spend it on. Settle your property tax or national health insurance premiums in Sai Coin and the 3% on that top-up is simply yours. Paying 200,000 yen of city tax a year via an account top-up returns 6,000 points, with no shopping required.

The slip must carry the wording for Sai Coin invoice payment on the reverse. Slips without a barcode, or without that wording, cannot be used.

Some things are excluded. Premium digital vouchers cannot be used at ward and city office counters or for tax and public charges paid through the invoice function (Sai Coin can). For school collections, schools in the city using the Sukupei service have accepted Sai Coin since 1 June 2026 (app version 146 or later required).

What is running in 2026, and until when

Offer	What you get	Period and conditions
Top-up rebate	3% of the amount (2% in cash)	Top-ups made on or before 31 March 2027
Receipt Quest	Tamapon for photographing and submitting shopping receipts	From 1 August 2026. Part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's 2026 smart city implementation support programme. App version 159 or later required
MOM UP PARK tie-in	30 points per video watched plus survey, 50 points for five or more, 30 points for adding the LINE account	21 August to 12 November 2026, 23:59. First come, first served; ends once one million points are awarded. Points expected end of November 2026
Surveys	Points for answering in-app surveys	Issued irregularly
Stamp rallies	Points at participating events	Per event
Premium digital vouchers	50% premium (5,000 yen buys 7,500 yen of value)	The 2026 round has closed. The usage window ran 17 April to 31 August 2026

The premium vouchers are not simply there for the asking

Open to Saitama City residents. Applying and buying require the app and My Number card authentication
5,000 yen a set, worth 7,500 yen (a 50% premium)
Up to four sets per person; 800,000 sets in total
Applications ran 24 February to 10 April 2026, purchases 17 April to 14 May, and use 17 April to 31 August
Applications reached 807,314 sets against the 800,000 cap, so allocation went to a lottery (208,975 applicants)

Applications were not first-come, but losing the lottery meant no vouchers, and there were no reserve draws. Whether a similar round runs next year has not been announced. Purchases could be made by credit card, Seven Bank ATM or post office counter; direct debit, Sai Coin and Tamapon were not accepted.

Campaigns end early when the budget runs out. Saitama has previously run a large rebate on payment amounts that was cut short more than a month before its scheduled end, once the total rebate hit its one billion yen ceiling. The MOM UP PARK tie-in above likewise states that entries close once one million points have been awarded. If you intend to use one of these, move early.

How people outside the city can get in

The app is open to non-residents. There is also a furusato nozei thank-you gift aimed at them: "Furusato Tamapon", launched on 1 June 2025.

Donations range from 3,000 to 200,000 yen. The points work at Tamapon merchants inside Saitama City, excluding some, covering more than 300 restaurants, accommodation providers and similar businesses (as of end of April 2026). The eligible list is selected in line with Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications criteria and is updated periodically.

Donate to Saitama City through a furusato nozei portal (Furusato Choice, Furunavi, JRE MALL, au PAY, ANA and many others participate)
A gift code sized to your donation arrives at the email address you registered
Register the code in the Saitama City Minna no App and the points become usable

Our complete guide to furusato nozei covers the wider mechanics.

Pitfalls worth knowing before you start

What works

Non-residents can register and use it
The 3% is settled at top-up, with no shopping required
Municipal tax, property tax, health insurance and water bills can all be paid by invoice payment
Card top-ups earn your card's own points as well
Library card, waste collection calendar and disaster app integrations are built in
Post office counters in the city accept cash top-ups and help with first-time registration

What does not

Only merchants inside Saitama City accept it
Tamapon does not work at large stores (1,000 square metres or less, or locally headquartered)
Tamapon expires after just 180 days
Topping up requires My Number card authentication
Cash top-ups drop the rate to 2%
Campaigns end early once the budget is exhausted

Watch how the 180 days are counted. Tamapon expires 180 days from the last award or the last use. Top up or spend regularly and the clock keeps resetting, but leave it for about half a year and the balance is gone. Shibuya's Hachi Pay allows a full year, so this expires at twice the pace.

Download the Saitama City Minna no App and register
Complete email, SMS and My Number card authentication (only name, address, date of birth and gender are read from the card)
Top up from a credit card or bank account; cash drops the rate to 2%
Spend Tamapon within 180 days. It does not work at large stores, so pick a local shop in advance
When a tax or water bill arrives, check the reverse for the Sai Coin invoice payment wording
Many campaigns are first-come or by lottery — check the official notices regularly

If you get stuck, every ward office hosts a Saitama City Minna no App advice counter (Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00, last reception 16:30). Every post office in the city also helps with first-time registration.

Summary

Saicoin earns Tamapon points worth 3% at the moment of charging (2% for cash top-ups). This applies to top-ups made through March 31, 2027.
Tamapon points are worth ¥1 each, but can only be used at stores with 1,000 square meters of sales floor or less, or stores headquartered in the city. They expire 180 days after the last day points were granted or used.
Residents can pay municipal tax, property tax, National Health Insurance tax, water bills, and more via invoice payment; paying ¥200,000 a year in municipal tax through bank-account top-ups earns 6,000 points.
Charging requires My Number card authentication. People outside the city can also use it, and there's a furusato nozei return gift called "Furusato Tamapon."
Campaigns end early once their budget runs out. The Reiwa 8 (2026) premium digital gift voucher (50% bonus) has ended for both sales and use.

Sources

This article is general information based on published material and does not recommend any particular app or municipality. Rates, periods, caps and eligible items change without notice and can end early, so check the official Saitama City and operator sites before acting.