Yeah, there's NFC access for vending machines/convenience stores, but as already noted Japan is still very cash centric (which I find I prefer, but YMMV).

tl;dr it's here in Japan, yes, but not as "use anywhere" as you'd be led to believe. Doesn't mean it doesn't fucking rock, though.

There's almost a whole formal exchange with cash in Japan, even the way the cashier counts your change is very deliberate (didn't notice this until I saw a Japanese person do this in the US).

I've heard China also has some issues with credit cards, but has more to do with trust issues.

At least in some electronics stores you can collect loyalty points on your NFC phone, but for payments it's probably 95% cash and 5% suica / pasmo subway cards.

Japan is very cash centric when it comes to transactions, while I was there I never saw a credit card lol (2 yrs ago)

I have a Suica card sitting here on my desk. Suica is Japan Rail's refillable, tap-payment system. It's been adopted for use at convenience stores and seems to be all over the place now. Basically, anywhere likely to make small sales to commuters is extremely likely to accept Suica.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suica

The Wikipedia article mentions the VIEW card, which is a hybrid credit card and Suica.