LifeinAsia - 3:46 pm on Jul 31, 2009 (gmt 0)

The trend in Japan has been to place these ATM type machines at convenience stores.

I'm not sure about Japan, but in Korea checks pretty much don't exist. To pay your phone or utility bills, you used to go down to the bank or post office and hand over your bill with money. I believe you could also use ATMs once they got a foot hold. Nowadays, phone or Internet banking is pretty ubiquitous.

However, I have no idea how electronic the other side (sending the bills or submitting payments through vendor sites) has become.

Back here in the States, just about every bill I receive/pay is done electronically.

And most of the mail I receive is junk, coupon flyers, or magazines. In fact, I didn't get anything in the mailbox during half of the last 7 days.