I did some internet reading on my own. And at one of the 3 star Michelin restaurants that is cash only - a blogger spoke with the owner - and the owner said the credit card company would charge him 10% so he could accept credit cards. Yikes - 10% is a ton when it comes to any business - especially a small restaurant.

Would a small business anywhere else in the world pay 10%? We have vendors at small local farmers' markets who use handheld credit card machines that work on cellphones. And outfits like Costco make this kind of thing very affordable - they charge < 2%:

http://www.elavon.com/acquiring/costco/

I thought Costco was big in Japan - but perhaps not when it comes to inexpensive local credit card services.

As for cash being a status thing - I think spending money wisely is a status thing. If I can get 2-3x reward card points for dining - and use those points to increase my spending power - well that makes sense to me. Plus - it is a super PITA carrying around a lot of cash (especially if it's a foreign currency and you have to deal with currency exchange).

It also entered my mind that perhaps there is a tax evasion element involved (although I've found no evidence of this). Robyn