The cashier held out a small black pad. The reel above, published 25 September 2026, is the next second: the card goes into the chip slot, and she had asked for a tap. This page is that sentence, the move it asks for, and the other sentence that means insert.
What does タッチしてください mean at a Japanese register?
タッチしてください (tatchi shite kudasai) means "please tap." タッチ (tatchi) is the katakana loan from English "touch," and at a register it means the contactless tap. して (shite) is the te-form of する (suru, "to do"). ください (kudasai) turns that into a request, the same pattern as 見てください (mite kudasai, "please look") and 待ってください (matte kudasai, "please wait"). The cashier wants your card or your phone on the pad. A short はい (hai, "yes") is enough, and then you tap. You will also hear こちらにタッチしてください (kochira ni tatchi shite kudasai), "please tap here." こちら (kochira) means "here" or "this way," and に (ni) marks the place. That place is the flat pad with the contactless mark, four curved lines. The chip slot is a separate opening, and this sentence is about the pad.
What do you do when the cashier says タッチしてください?
Hold the card or the phone flat on the pad until it beeps. A light hold is enough. One second usually does it. Keep the card still, because a card that leaves early comes back as a miss. If she tips the reader toward you, meet the pad she is offering. Convenience stores and a lot of chain counters run this way: the tap is the first instruction, and the chip is the later one. Whether the shop takes a card at all is the question you settle before you pick the item up. Once she has said タッチしてください, this purchase already has a tap path. The bag and the receipt happen earlier in the same visit. いいです at the cashier is that earlier moment, when "that's fine" cancels the bag. Payment is this sentence, after the total.
How is タッチしてください different from 差し込んでください?
差し込んでください (sashikonde kudasai) means "please insert it." 差し込む (sashikomu) means "to insert," and 差し込んで is the te-form. The card goes into the chip slot, chip end first, and stays there until the reader lets it go. Some screens use the formal word for the same move, 挿入してください (sōnyū shite kudasai). 挿入 (sōnyū) means "insertion." The letters IC beside that slot mean the metal chip on a credit card. A Suica is also called an IC card in everyday speech, and a Suica still belongs on the pad. There is no chip edge on a Suica to push into a slot. The reel is what happens when the insert move arrives during the tap sentence. Wait for 差し込んでください before you use the slot. When she wants the chip, she names it.
What does かざしてください mean at the same reader?
かざしてください (kazashite kudasai) means "please hold it over the reader." かざす (kazasu) is the Japanese verb for holding a card or a phone up to a sensor. かざして is the te-form. You bring the card to the pad and keep it there until the beep. Reader screens and ticket gates use かざす often. Cashiers more often say the loanword タッチ. The hand does the same thing either way. A lookalike that sends your finger to the glass is 画面をタッチしてください (gamen o tatchi shite kudasai), "please touch the screen." 画面 (gamen) is the display. を (o) marks that screen as the thing you touch. Photo booths and ticket machines use it. At a staffed register the sentence usually has no 画面, and the object in your hand is the card or the phone.
Can you tap a Suica, a phone, or a foreign card?
A Suica, a Pasmo, or another transit IC card pays only as a tap. Hold it on the same pad. A phone wallet does too. Wake the phone, approve the payment if it asks, and hold the phone where the card would go. iD and QUICPay, the Japanese contactless brands, use that pad as well. A foreign Visa or Mastercard taps when the card shows the same four curved lines. The reader may label the payment タッチ決済 (tatchi kessai). 決済 (kessai) means settling the bill. The same label appears on station gates, which are a different machine. タッチ決済 at the ticket gate covers that. At the register, a beep means the tap landed. Sometimes the terminal then asks for 暗証番号 (anshō bangō), the PIN. Type it. The tap already happened.
What do you say if the tap does not beep?
Leave the card on the pad for one more second. If it stays quiet, say すみません、タッチできません (sumimasen, tatchi dekimasen), "excuse me, it cannot tap." できません (dekimasen) means "cannot." すみません is the right opener. Say it before you reach for the slot. She will usually point at the chip slot and say 差し込んでください. Use the slot then. A Suica that reaches the pad and still fails to pay can be short of money. At a shop you pay with another card or with cash. The fare machine in the station balance guide is for a gate, and it does not help this counter. For the bag, the hot food, and the receipt, keep the konbini phrases beside this line.
Three lines cover the reader. タッチしてください (tatchi shite kudasai) means tap the pad she is holding out. かざしてください (kazashite kudasai) is the same hold, said with a Japanese verb. 差し込んでください (sashikonde kudasai) means the chip slot, and you wait for that sentence before you use it. The reel is the wince. Your move is the tap.
