Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recently launched its mobile payment service Apple Pay in Japan but the launch was not as smooth as expected especially for commuters.

The launch of Apple Pay in Japan targets numerous areas including the country’s public transport system. Unfortunately the launch of the service was not as smooth as expected because commuters were having trouble linking their train passes onto the Apple Pay app on their iPhones. East Japan Railway Co. reported that commuters were having a difficult time trying to get the Mobile Suica contactless payment system to accept payments through Apple Pay.

The problem manifested early in the morning after the launch of the service but the Japanese railway company had if fixed a few hours later. However, Apple’s page showed that some problems were persistent even after Japanese Railway fixed the issues.

“It’s a shame that systems went down, but it shows just how much user interest there is,” stated Eiichiro Yanagawa a senior analyst at a consulting firm known as Celent.

The launch of the mobile payment service in Japan has received a lot of skepticism from analysts. This is mainly because Japan’s economy is predominantly cash-based. Most stores also prefer cash payments to credit cards. Convincing people to accept alternative payment methods will therefore be a difficult task for the company. However, Apple is hoping that the growing popularity of the service will provide incentive for businesses and individuals to adopt the service.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was in Japan earlier this month with a mission of promoting the service. He posted social media images of him using a Suica-enabled iPhone at a train station. Suica is a contactless card used to make payments in Japanese public transport. It is based on a technology called Felica which is an early form of NFC that was created by Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE).