My wife is headed for Japan tomorrow. We have traveled a lot in Europe but this is a first to Japan for us. In Europe we usually use the ATMs for currency exchange, drawing Euros from our debit crds.

Is it the same in Japan? Can she draw money from her checking account from Japanese ATMs the same way? Thanks in advance for your advice.

i believe there are some problems....but let others more familiar answer your question

The Post Office atm machines are the ones that take foreign cards reliably. Citibank does too, but there aren't many machines. There is a link to the post office information in the replies to someone else's message about cash in Japan.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34779206

The post office ATM's are the way to go. However, our card would only allow a cash advance from our credit card, not a debit from our checking account. I don't know why, as other people on this site have not had this trouble.

I think you have to use an ATM card or a credit card. A debit card doesn't work I don't think.

Double checked about the debit card. It seems that on the Japanese end, it's fine to use as long as it's part of the Maestro or VISA electron networks.

It's important to check with your home bank about overseas use and limits. An example of why...our Japanese Post Office card for our Japanese account can withdraw 300,000 yen per transaction, and should we need more, just insert the card again and get 300,000 more...that's about $3000 US per withdrawal. Our US bank ATM card has a $500.00 use limit per day (regardless of what kind of transaction it is). We could get no more than the equivalent of $500.00 in Japan with this card, in spite of the Japanese rules.

It is also possible that your card may not be usable overseas.

Short version...check with your home bank before departure. Have a few means of getting money at your disposal should one not work.