ATM's in Japan - Help!
 

I am reading different reports on ATM's in Japan. We have Visa and Mastercard (which would be Cirrus).
I have heard that only CitiBank ATM's work.
I have also heard that any ATM at the post office will work.
I was planning on getting travelers checks, but then I heard they are even more of a hassle than the ATM's (although I would evetually be able to access the money as opposed to being pretty much screwed if I have no access to an ATM.)
Anyone have experience with this.
Thanks

Yes, the Post Office ATM's appear to take all kinds of cards. Some other ATM's will take Cirrus (Mastercard) or Visa cards, and some will take both. I think the JCB ones you can use with either... you choose "International card" if you want to use Visa. I don't recall seeing any at all that take Citibank - perhaps they just have them in actual Citibank branches?

My advice would be to make sure you have sufficient credit available on both types of card, and find your nearest machine to your hotel early in your stay, try it out, and don't wait until you desparately need money!
I agree that traveller's cheques won't help you out much at all- you would need to exchange these at a bank, the shops wouldn't accept them. Check out the websites for Visa and Cirrus before you leave, you should be able to find what ATM's are available in the area you are staying.

I have found the following info to be reliable and helpful as to what cards are taken at the post offices, etc.:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2208.html

I had absolutely no trouble using the ATMs (they have Eng. instructions) in post offices in Japan. I found the post offices readily available, close to the train stations in most cases (and one in Narita airport arrival terminal , which is great for right after you land). I did not use any other way to get yen while there. I just made sure I got to the post office while they were open.

This is the Japan Post webpage that shows which cards you can use.
http://www.yu-cho.japanpost.jp/e_a0000000/aa200000.htm
I am planning to take my ATM (not debit) Bank card which has the Cirrus symbol. I did fine with that on my first trip two years ago. I keep a $100 bill just in case of a problem. Of course, I do have credit cards with pin numbers so if I was forced to take a cash advance (perish the thought) I could......

Thank you for your help.
We leave Tuesday and get back at the end of March. I'll post the highlights (besides seeing our college son for the first time in 6 months!)
Love this forum, it helped me so much in planning our trip.
Thanks again especially mrwnrfl, kimjapan and emd, who answered even my very basic questions.
Andrea

HAVE A GREAT TIME! It looks like you'll see sakura too.

You'll pay back the help we gave you by posting when you get back. And even your questions help others in the future when they are looking through old posts for answers.

I'd just like to add that if your pin for your debit card has letters in it, you should find out what the corresponding number is. They have only numbers on their machines. When we went to Japan in 2003, I was flustered for a minute, til I remembered the position of the keys that I use to punch in my code, and was able to figure out the numbers from that.

I was so paranoid about that I took cash and travelers checks.
I bought yen at the airport in Chicago and kept some American cash too.
We did try our card. It did not work at any street ATM's or any ATM's in train stations.
It did work at the post office, however It's a good thing I brought the cash, because our credit card worked, but not our debit card. So all the money we would have put into our checking account for our trip would not have been available to us. We would have had to take cash advances (ouch!)
We went to a bank - 2 blocks from where we were staying in Kyoto - I had to pay our guest house in cash - and it was no big deal to cash our travelers checks. You have to be aware of bank hours, but other than that is was a snap.
Another tip - I got my travelers checks through AAA (no charge with membership) and they gave me a list of banks that would cash them without charge.

angethereader's experience sounds accurate. The Post Office system is the only one that takes foreign cards reliably. There are Post Office machines all over the place though, as mentioned before. Just go to the PO machines and don't waste your time on any other machines.

I am just back from Kyoto and used the ATM at the PO next to Kyoto Station - I believe it is open seven days - I went there either on Saturday or Sunday - not sure which. I also used a very small PO ATM somewhere in the Gion area. No problems at all.