Eastbeam, a company which hosts Japan’s gaming information portal, has introduced an online payment service which enables companies without subsidiaries in Japan to charge Japanese users.

With the new online payment service, Eastbeam will act as a Japanese payment gateway using the WebMoney system, which is operated by Japan-based WebMoney Corporation. The electronic payment system owns a 40-percent share of the Japanese payment market related to online gaming. With WebMoney, the customer purchases 16-digit codes and registers them with their online payment account. The codes can be bought at almost 42,000 convenience stores, as well as PC/game shops and Internet cafés. Users can also charge their online payment accounts via bank transfers or credit cards.
In Q3 2009, over 2,100 Japanese companies used WebMoney.