TOKYO >> PayPay Corp., which develops electronic payment services, has launched a service that allows visitors to shrines and temples to make cashless offerings through its app.

The service is intended to make it quick and easy for visitors to make offerings and for shrines and temples to collect them.

There are also hopes that the service will reduce crowds during peak periods for visits, such as New Year’s Day.

Visitors can use their smartphones to scan QR codes placed at temples and shrines, then enter and send the amount of their offering.

During the summer, PayPay launched a service that allows users to make donations to organizations. Offerings fall in a category of donations.

Zojoji temple in Minato ward, Tokyo, introduced the cashless offering service on Dec. 23; other temples and shrines in cities such as Kyoto had plans to launch the service by the end of 2024.

“The act of offering money is a form of training, aimed at letting go of greed,” said a representative of Zojoji temple. “I think that sense will remain unchanged even with the use of PayPay.”