Hi All,
I’m heading to Japan for 2 weeks in a few days time (er, actually tomorrow!) with my small family for a quick ski and travel around to various cities.. what does everyone recommend best way for paying for stuff over there? I’ve got heaps of Aussie cash I could take, but that seems like a poor solution, as does just hitting the pay point with my iPhone to pay for stuff. What’s the accepted option these days that seems to work best?
Thanks,
Uniqualz
does ubank have fees? or nab and which ATM do you use?
“You’ll need cash”: does this mean taking a stack of Aussie cash and exchanging it there would work? Or do you mean yen cash?
Yen cash
I went at the beginning of last year, it wasn't actually that bad honestly. You definitely need a bit of cash but its eftpos facilities have improved quite a bit in the recent years. For example any change store, family mart, 7/11, electronics stores etc, most restaurants support it too, and if you are in tourist areas quite a few of the smaller shops also accept card.
There are cards with no international transaction fees? Surely they hit you with poor exchange rates to make up for it?
Are you new here?
Yes, no.
Get a WISE card set up in Oz and then down load a Japanese Suica card for use on Metro etc . That will mean you don't need very much cash (Yen) from a 7/11 ATM . Trying to convert AUD> Yen on an on going basis will be an expensive and time consuming exercise.
No they use visa/mastercard exchange rates which are generally better than most other options.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/cards_with_no_overseas_tra…
I use the HSBC one
HSBC doesn’t seem to be giving me as good of an exchange as my other mastercards, even when converting in advance.
Cash is king. Withdraw from ATM's when you get there.
Cash is still king? Cool - what if I take a few thou Aussie $’s in cash and change it to yen over there as I need it? Better or worse exchange rates than digital money cards etc?
I think you won't get a very good exchange rate. The ATM withdrawals with a fee free card worked out great for me.
That sounds the way to go.. unfortunately I’ve left it a bit late to apply for cards.. I fly out tomorrow! 🫣
@uniqualz: Which bank are you with? Most likely the exchange rate will be better withdrawing from an ATM in Japan or just using your card everywhere if international fee is 2-3% but depends on your banks ATM withdrawal fee and how much you withdraw.
I found it much easier in Japan just paying with card as it's accepted pretty much everywhere except some restaurants or bars however this was before pandemic so it may be even more widely accepted now.
Forget everything you know about home. Japan very much beats to its own drum. Cash is still king there. Apart from a couple of tourist spots, it's probably the safest country to walk around with a bunch of cash in your wallet.
Learn a couple of basic Japanese words on the flight over and enjoy!
On safety: my wife left her wallet full of cash in a random phone booth in suburban Osaka. When we went back, 20 minutes later it was gone… because somebody had already taken it to the local police station, and had left us a note they had painstakingly written out for us in English.
That's a terrible idea.
There's many threads relating to this that I remember commenting in.
I've been 19 times and cash is king.
I exchange it here, the closer you get to the airport the worse rate you'll get.
That will be a very expensive (exchange loss and fess) and time consuming exercise…..I assume you speak fluent Japanese to navigate the associated paperwork?
I heard fee free ATMs can be kinda hard to find in Japan.
7/11 every where…..
So 7/11 atms are fee free?
Used Wise without issues years ago. Aussie cash won't be helpful there. You can withdraw local cash using Wise as well.
Check OzB for other cards that don't charge you international fees and have decent rates.
So you appear to have missed money on your travel checklist. Are you good for passport validity, baggage allowances, travel insurance, mobile data, airport transfers, offline maps, language translation, public transit, etc?
Hey, good luck with the stand-up comedy career.. the key is to keep writing to improve your material. 👍
Just get money out of ATM! Everything is so cheap there. Heck, you can get a meal for a third of the price here in oz. Not sure where you can exchange money in JP? Try the airport on arrival? If not, usually your hotel reception. Your money goes a lot more there.. $1 for a block of chocolate, $2 kitkat.. $8 ramen, $5 maccas Triple cheese burger..
Better to change $ here.
I just went in November/December.
I used my UP Card with Ubank card as a backup. No fees, and extremely close to actual conversion rates.
It was super simple - just walk into any 7-11/convenience store (they are everywhere) and withdraw. Make sure to withdraw in yen, not AUD to make best use of conversion rates.
Both banks have an option you can state which country you are visiting just to prevent accidental closure of your account for fraud reasons. My Up card was locked for 24 hours when I got there but had Ubank as the backup so was straight forward.
I'd recommend keeping around 20,000 yen on you for convenience (roughly $200).
While you're in the 7-11, pick up some Onigiri. Great for breakfast and snacks.
Obviously food in Japan is amazing and affordable, but it helps to have one convenience meal a day, just to keep things simple.
Same here (came back a week ago). Up card with Wise as backup. 80% of my transactions accepted Up/Suica/Debit, 20% cash (which just was small restaurants/markets). Only had one instance where Up card didn't work - Keisei Skyliner, Narita Airport. Withdrawn cash at ATM at airport 7-Eleven.
7-Eleven fruit smoothies were my daily fruit intake every day :D
Many shops and some hospitality venues accept cards (contactless) now, so you can pay with your phone in a lot of places. I've been going to Japan every year for about 10 years now and needed cash a lot less in 2023 than before. Small restaurants and bars will often still be cash only.
Get a card that charges no foreign currency conversion fees such as Up / 28 Degrees / ING etc, see the list here https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/cards_with_no_overseas_tra…
I would use that card to pay directly if possible and withdraw cash from the ATMs inside 711 (always select to be charged in JPY and not AUD if given the choice).
You can create a Suica card within Apple Wallet on your phone (funded from one of your other added cards) and use that to touch on for local trains all over the country, and also pay for vending machines and in convenience stores.
Contactless is common, but last month I was still running into places that needed the physical card.
Almost got a bit too comfortable and stopped carrying my wallet. Started heading out with just my phone and a couple thousand yen emergency cash, but that didn't last long.
Get a Japanese Suica card loaded on your phone. Great for small purchases as well as taking trains.
We are in Japan a tthe moment, Currently in tokyo, Heading for Kyoto and then Sapporo.
One of the key thing here is Suica/Pasmo. Suica is a debit card run by one of the Rail Companies - it's the easy way to get on an off metro public transport - we have found many stores accept it for food, we have been get essentials at a nearby 7/11 and/or lawson (minimart)) and paying with that - we top it up online with an Aussie account (we are using westpac or UP).
I am also using Amex for something. (we took out around 2500 DOLLARS IN Yen) for 3 weeks, and have used maybe 300 of that so far.
You can also create a virtual Suica card in Apple Wallet on your phone and transfer money into it from one of your other credit cards you have added. You can also put it on your Apple Watch as an express transit pass, very convenient for catching trains.
Virtual Suica is the way. No need to put much money on it either. It takes 20 seconds to top up so you can just add in one or two thousand yen increments as needed.
Suica seems to have issues with transfers from Visa cards but Mastercard works fine. Fully agree with a Suica, WISE and a little throw away cash in Yen. Trying to change AUD cash to Yen will be certainly character building.
Does virtual suica work with android?
Would you need one per person for transport, or can we set one up and use it for multiple passengers?
Thanks
Amex? 3% fee lol
I don't know if it's just Tokyo central station but sale of suica cards were suspended. Namely as. I wanted my Mrs to get one. I still have mine from ages ago that I brought on the trip
If you have an iPhone, a virtual suica wallet for anywhere that'll take it is best as other people have said. Then I found if you don't have a international fee free card, a wise card is the next best thing. Make sure you get the physical card, a lot of places will require swipe/insert. As there are ATM fees from both wise and the atm (we commonly used the 7eleven ATMs which had a 110yen per 10000 yen withdrawn fee), its cheaper to pay with your card and only use cash when you have to. I found that a lot more places took card then when I had gone on my previous trip 5 or so years ago, which is nice.
Cash is king in Japan. If you use a Wise card, activate it before you leave to save trying to find the right ATM to do it over there.
Many, many places will have NO tap/EFTPOS availability at all. And certainly nothing outside of a Suica/Pasmo card. You cannot rely on it in local stores.
I went to Japan in March and November last year and from my experience cash is not as king as it used to be in Japan, especially in the main tourist cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka). Almost every combini, chain restaurants (e.g. Ichiran, Sushiro), major stores (e.g. Daiso, UNIQLO), shinkansen accepted credit cards.
You still need cash, like for some restaurants (esp the more traditional type or ones that mainly cater to local clientele), street stalls, local public transport, etc. Outside the major cities like in Kyushu I found myself using more cash. But I was eating at combinis a lot so didn't use that much cash then either lol.
Also if you use a Mastercard at 7 Eleven ATMs you won't be charged with the 110 yen fee.
Thanks for the post and replies. I had the same question. Heading to Japan later this year.
New question: Are there any coeliacs who have any tips (beyond what is available on the Coeliac Australia website?
Dietary requirements aren't going to be catered for particularly if you can't speak Japanese. At least I doubt you'll find it easy to manage
Japan is still big on cash. Get it before you go.
I have the Citibank and HSBC cards; have just tried both to withdraw cash from a 7-11 atm within minutes of each other and the HSBC card was ¥92 to $1 and Citibank ¥95 to $1
Has anyone tried and compared the BankWest Easy Transaction debit card to the Citibank card? The Citibank will transition to NAB next month..and might be a lower exchange rate like HSBC
Dont take AUD unless you need it for a taxi when you get back home.
A card with fee free international transactions, and Japan Post ATMs & 7Bank (7-11) ATMs for some local Yen on arrival. and there are ATMs at the airport and most train stations.
There are lots of options for fee free cards to choose from: ubank, up bank, suncorp, bankwest, macquarie bank, mebank…
The highlight there, Macquarie pays a decent interest rate on funds in the transaction account.
I think the biggest issue for wise and revolut is that they're not banks. so while they're good at fx transfers to foreign bank accounts, and "fine" for most card transactions, I wouldn't be leaving tens of thousands sit in there idle. I'd transfer smaller amounts in more regularly just enough to cover a couple of days spend.
Does anyone know how well, if at all, Revolut works in Japan? I don't have a Wise card but have the physical Revolut card.
Yes it works, though 711 atm charge bit of fee because revolut (and wise) are VISA cards. I heard mastercard works without fee
Thanks for that, didn't read Ryk's comment above before asking… whoops! I'll keep that in mind about 7/11, thanks!
Back now after 2 weeks.. the virtual Up card I had on my iPhone (which Bendigo Bank calls 'Zap card digital') was accepted in cities at most places by just tapping from my Apple wallet, and it was phenomenal. Exchange rates - mostly, the transaction went through at almost 1:1 exchange rate (98c). When I paid a few minutes later by tapping with my Westpac debit card, the exchange rate was way worse at 89c at one point. So Up for the win. But while quite a few places accepted the virtual tap n go Up option, quite a few could only transact with a physical Up Card to insert into their paypoint, and as I didn't organise the physical card before I left Aus, I had to insert the cruddy Westpac debit mastercard for lame 89c exchange rates.
Also, the Up digi solution was so good that I didn't need Aussie cash at all.. (7-11 ATM withdrawals ftw) and any cash yen I had (about ¥20,000) I barely needed to use thanks to the Up tap n go option, and the cash lasted almost 2 entire weeks. Lots more digital transactions going on now than when I was there 10 years ago.
Looks like OP is back but I seriously don't get all the take cash comments. Tokyo especially is largely fine with credit card. Unless your solo and young travellers trawling through small bars and izakayas and eateries, mostly anywhere that a small family which OP has would go would accept credit card.
All train systems do too, all hotels tend to largely (at least any main chains a family would Goto) and all the convenient stores do too
The only thing so far requiring cash is washing machines and luggage forwarding delivery direct from my hotel to next using Yamato. That said Yamato itself at the Narita airport took credit card so it's clearly just the hotel intermediary.
Glad OP was ok
I am in Tokyo now. And so far haven't used the Citibank or NAB yet.
What about out of Tokyo, like far from Tokyo, you need cash man, they are stuck in their ways.
HI, has anyone used the Bank west travel debit card for withdrawing cash in Japan? Was thinking this plus a 28 degrees Latitude card to use when travelling in Japan
You’ll need cash.
Withdraw from ATM using one of the cards with no international transaction fees