PayPal Flying Solo to Japan

EBay acquired PayPal in 2002, the same year it largely conceded the Japanese auction market to Yahoo Japan, so the online payment service has never really had a chance at handling some of the billions of dollars in online transactions generated by that nation’s consumers every year. That’s about to change. PayPal now plans to ramp up its efforts in Japan, the first time it will enter a region without the built-in support of its parent’s giant auction business. The company hopes to sell itself to retailers as an easy way to handle sales abroad, with more than 87 million accounts worldwide and the ability to deal in 24 currencies.