Gift certificate - shohinken (English spelling) gift certificate

A type of bearer security that is prepaid and payable at sight (presentation is immediate payment). Also known as a commodity stamp. It can be used to purchase any product handled by the issuing store at any time within the amount printed on the face of the stamp. Due to the Japanese custom of abstaining from giving money as a gift, stamps are mostly used as gifts. Legally, they are a type of prepaid payment instrument, and together with prepaid cards, they are considered prepaid certificates issued by third-party issuers (Act on Settlement of Funds, Law No. 59 of 2009).

As early as the mid-Edo period, there were product stamps for Toraya manju in Osaka and Suruga-ya yokan jelly from Fushimi, and in the Meiji period, department stores issued stamps for kimono, alcohol, confectionery, tofu, etc. They were popular from the Taisho to Showa periods, and were issued mainly by department stores under the regulation and supervision of the Gift Certificate Control Law (Law No. 28 of 1932), but became widespread after World War II. The regulating and supervising law was changed to the Law Concerning the Regulation of Prepaid Certificates (Law No. 92 of 1989), and then to the current law mentioned above.

In the past, stamp duty based on the face value of a gift certificate was charged when purchasing one, but now there is no such tax. Gift certificates are mainly issued by department stores because they are beneficial for both the customer and the department store; customers can satisfy their desires at any time thanks to the wide range of products available at department stores. From the department store's perspective, uncollected gift certificates not only contribute to management as interest-free borrowing capital, but the reputation and credibility of the issuer can also become an important asset. Since around the 1960s, not only individual department stores but also multiple department stores have joined forces to issue common gift certificates, and retail associations of the same industry have issued common gift certificates on a national scale (for example, book cards).

[Mitsuo Morimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

代金前払いで一覧払い（呈示が即支払いになる）の無記名有価証券の一種。商品切手ともいう。券面に記載されている金額の範囲内で、発行店の取り扱う全商品を随時購入することができる。贈り物に金銭を嫌う日本の風習から、ほとんど贈答用に使用される。法律上は、前払い式支払い手段の一種で、プリペイドカードとあわせて、第三者型発行者の発行する前払い式証票とされる（資金決済に関する法律、平成21年法律第59号）。

　古くは江戸時代中ごろに発行された大坂虎屋(とらや)のまんじゅう、伏見駿河屋(ふしみするがや)の羊かんの商品切手があり、明治時代には百貨店発行の呉服切手をはじめ、酒類切手、菓子切手、豆腐切手などもあった。大正から昭和にかけて盛行し、商品券取締法（昭和7年法律第28号）の規制・監督を受け、主として百貨店が発行してきたが、第二次世界大戦後広く普及した。規制・監督の法律は、前払式証票の規制等に関する法律（平成1年法律第92号）を経て、前述の現行法に変わっている。

　商品券を購入する際に、かつては券面金額に応じた印紙税がかかったが、現在は無税である。商品券が主として百貨店で発行される理由は、利用者と百貨店の双方に利点があるからで、利用者は百貨店の幅広い品ぞろえによって、自由な時期に自己の欲求を満足させることができる。百貨店側からすれば、商品券の未回収高は無利息の借入れ資本として経営に貢献するのみでなく、発行者としての名声や信用も重要な資産となりうるのである。1960年代ごろから、個々の百貨店ばかりでなく、複数の百貨店が連携して共通商品券を発行したり、同業の小売組合が全国的規模で共通商品券（たとえば図書カード）を出している。

［森本三男］

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