Only the giant supermarket operator, Ito-Yokado, came close to having a fully-funded pension plan.

ECONOMIST: Worse to come

Last year, Ito-Yokado launched an Internet payments-acceptance service open to any participating company.

ECONOMIST: Banking at your convenience

It will become still more so when the likes of Ito-Yokado, a retailer, and Sony, a consumer-electronics group, get into the business.

ECONOMIST: Asian banks

One of the most bizarre stories involves Ito-Yokado, a respected supermarket chain.

ECONOMIST: Fairy tale

Daiei and other domestic chains such as Seiyu and Ito-Yokado are all struggling to cope with colossal debts and imprudent diversification, and their underfunded outlets are getting tatty.

ECONOMIST: Japanese retailing

This will make it easier and cheaper to process the large volume of payments between the millions of customers and hundreds of businesses that Ito-Yokado hopes its e-commerce venture will attract.

ECONOMIST: Banking at your convenience

Other konbini chains are now following Ito-Yokado's lead.

ECONOMIST: Banking at your convenience

Ito-Yokado seems to know what it's doing.

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