currency conversion
 

I am traveling to Japan in March 2017. Can anyone share with me whether I should convert to Japanese yen in Canada or it is cheaper to do the currency conversion in Japan when I arrive there. Many thanks

The best (least expensive) way to get Japanese currency is to use an ATM once you get to Japan. Read up on which ATMs in Japan will accept foreign cards. The bank machines in the airport will, and bank machines in convenience stores and post offices will. Check with your bank and see what kind of charges they levy. What you want is a bank that allows you to use a foreign ATM for no fee and does not charge a currency conversion fee. You may want to look into opening an account somewhere just for foreign travel.

Getting foreign currency in your own country is expensive. Often, when you add up their charges and the artificially inflated exchange rate, it is not unusual to pay a 10% premium.

Kathie is right although setting up a bank account in a foreign country would be very complicated. Canadian ATM cards will charge you a fee for transactions at a foreign machine, either a flat fee or a percentage. I don't know of any that do not charge a fee. When you extract yen the exchange rate will be higher than what you read as the official rate. If you sell the yen back to a bank the rate will be lower -- that's one reason Canadian banks make billion-dollar profits. The exchange rate should be the same as over-the-counter trades at a bank. You may recognize the Seven-Eleven chain of convenience stores; it's actually Japanese-owned and has ATMs.
If you are travelling alone, you should open a chequing account at another bank so you have two ATM cards, and two credit cards too (do not use the credit card at an ATM). Never have all your cards in the same wallet or pocket. If you are with a friend, you should use different banks.

I'm not talking about setting up a bank account in a foreign country - sorry I wasn't clear. I'm taking about having a bank account in your own country that you use for travel if your regular bank charges high fees. In the US, the "big banks" often charge $3 per ATM use + 3% foreign conversion fee. Smaller banks and credit unions often charge much less. My brokerage charges me nothing.

Yes -- many people have a special account they use just for travel. I used to have one that just sat there w/ a couple of hundred $ in it until I was traveling overseas and then would deposit $$$ for the trip.

But I no longer need/use that acct. having a credit union w/ very low fees and a bank account that charges high fees - but refunds them monthly.

I have a Capital One account I use only for travel that has no fees and refunds any fee charged by a foreign ATM up to $25/month. I also have a credit union account as backup that charges 1% foreign transaction fee.

I was just in japan, and after an initial ATM transaction at the airport I used ATMs in Seven Elevens - they were all over the place.

The above is best. Use your ATM card at a Japanese post office or Japanese 7-11. The latter is open essentially 24/7.

You can see current exchange rates in Japan at:
http://www.narita-airport.or.jp/exchange_e/index.html

You can also see what Japanese money looks like at
http://www.thejapanfaq.com/japanfaq1c.html
Note that you can not use 1 or 5 yen coins in vending machines and phones.

Besides having a no-fee ATM card, I find it useful to arm myself with a no foreign transaction credit card, especially for Japan. Because it is quite annoying finding ATM machines that take foreign cards, I find myself using my credit card for almost every transaction in Japan. In other countries, you may have to worry about credit card fraud, but in Japan, it is quite rare. Many credit cards offer this feature, you just have to google around.

I'm surprised that CaliforniaLady had trouble finding suitable ATM machines in Japan, as post offices and 7-Elevens are ubiquitous -- but maybe she was trying to use a Maestro card with IC chip? As noted in the japan-guide link I provided above, they have been a bit problematic of late....

kja, I have a Schwab ATM card that typically works everywhere. I find it annoying to have to hunt down a post office, or even a 7-Eleven, but I realize that I'm in the minority here, so that's fine. Whatever works, I'm just suggesting an alternative. And it's always a good idea to have a no foreign transaction fee credit card for hotel bills.

@ CaliforniaLady: Alternatives are always good! :-)

I am surprised - extremely surprised! - that CaliforniaLady had trouble finding Seven Elevens. I just spent five weeks in Japan, some of it off the western tourist trail, and they were everywhere. I often bought yoghurt for breakfast, instead of eating hotel breakfasts, and every time there was one practically next door to the hotel. I did use my no-fee Capital One CC a lot, but some of the most interesting meals were in places that didn't take CCs.

Thursdays, I never said I had trouble finding 7-Elevens, I just said the planning involved in trying to get cash is annoying to me. When I was in Matsue, I tried to get cash one morning, and the post office did not have an ATM, and then the ATM at the 7-Eleven rejected my card. The ATM at the train station did take foreign cards, so I went there. I generally get cash at the airport, where the ATM's take foreign cards, then I use the ATM's at the train stations, and use my credit card as well.

I really didn't want to get bogged down on this--I just wanted people to know that there are two types of cards advised for foreign travel, one is an ATM card with no fees, and the other is a credit card with no foreign transaction fees. I realize that the regular posters here already know this, but there may be a couple of readers who did not.

How was Okinawa, thursdays? I can't wait to hear about it.

I went to the ICE website www.ice-canada.ca to start an order to convert 1000 CAD to JPY. I used the YYZ international departures location for pickup. Apparently, the smallest denomination is 1000 JPY.

The calculator came up with paying
1009.35 CAD for 83,000 JPY
109.45 for 9000 JPY
The rate is 1 CAD = 82.23 JPY

A website for currency exchange at NRT www.narita-airport.or.jp/exchange_e/ gives the following:
1009.35 CAD for 77417.145
109.45 CAD for 8394.815
The rate is 1 CAD for 76.70 JPY

The current rate at www.oanda.com is 1 CAD for 85.49 JPY. Consider that to be the best rate possible.

If I used my credit union ATM card then I would pay 1% conversion fee charged by Visa. I've never been charged by a Japanese bank and no fee from my CU. My effective rate would be 99% of the OANDA-provided interbank rate or 84.635 JPY for 1 CAD.

It is a surprise to me that the rate at Pearson is better than at Narita. It is the opposite of what I expected. No surprise that the ATM beats both.

Am a bit suspicious about the ICE quote. I went all the way through and entered a fake name and e-mail and the phone number for the Toronto Westin. I chose pickup dates of tomorrow and for March 30 and got the same rate for both. I don't see how they can do that - you don't pay until pickup.

I suppose you could place an order to pick up tomorrow. If the rate changes significantly or there is an additional fee then don't go through with the deal unless the effective rate beats the 76.70 at NRT.

<<I find it annoying to have to hunt down a post office, or even a 7-Eleven, but I realize that I'm in the minority here.>>

You are. And there are more than a few Japanese vendors and restaurants that require payment in cash, not credit card.

To the OP: you're not limited to post offices or 7-Elevens. Japanese cities have convenience stores on seemingly every other corner including FamilyMart, Lawson's, and 7-Eleven. We paid 216Y fee on 30,000Y withdrawals - a 0.73% charge that is miniscule, even in Canadian dollars.

It is ALWAYS less expensive to withdraw money from a foreign ATM if your home bank does not charge foreign exchange fees. Trading cash for cash at the airport means a 10% hit to you, sometimes more. Trading loonies for yen in Canada will incur a similar hit - your bank may say it charges "no fee" for cash exchanges but won't give you the actual exchange rate. Banks don't operate for free.

Your best information for exchange rates is oanda.com or xe.com.

To show you what I'm on about consider Mrwunrfl's exchange rate quotes above. They are <b>horrible</b> - xe.com currently has the rate at 85 yen to the Loonie but cash for cash at Narita would get you 76Y to the Loonie. That's a 10.6% loss to you. This is EXACTLY why you should just get a no forex fee ATM card from your bank (or get a bank with no foreign exchange fees - like CapOne or various credit unions in the US): you will get the ACTUAL exchange rate, not a marked-up exchange rate that favors the seller of the foreign currency.

Thank you to everyone for your honest and helpful responses!

One more bit of input. If it brings you comfort (and I can understand that it would, as I've done this before), pick up perhaps $100C of yen before you leave Canada, just so you know you aren't penniless upon touchdown. Then try your bank card at an ATM at the airport and withdraw further for what you might need for the first week or so. I recall generally getting cash at 7-11s and had no problems whatsoever.