Amanda

Another poster has alerted me to possible Credit card problems. Do Hotels and Restaurants take Mastercard and Visa?

KimJapan

Most hotels take credit cards, some restaurtants do. Visa is more widely accepted than MasterCard. The places that don't take credit cards may be ryokan (some will, some won't), low priced hotels, some stores, some restaurants....it's kind of hit or miss. Many places display the cards they accept in the window or doorway, but some places that accept credit cards do not display any logos at all. If you don't have any cash, just ask before you eat/buy...show your card and they'll know what you mean. More and more places are taking cards nowadays, though. I now use a card at the supermarket, where I couldn't do that 5 years ago.
Kim

Airlawgirl

Amanda- I just returned from Tokyo, and I had a problem finding restaurants that took credit cards- however, I had my Fodor's with me, and of course, any travel guide that lists restaurants will tell you whether they take credit cards or not, so I stuck with the guide's recommendations for restaurants, for the most part, since getting cash in Tokyo can be a problem with the scarity of ATM machines that take foreign credit cards. People and guidebooks say that all the major post office branches have foreign ATM machines, but 3 weeks ago, I went to 3 post office (yuban ryori) branches, and none had one- I finally had to get in a taxi and have him take me to CitiBank in Omoto-Sando, which had 5 foreign ATM machiness. Hotels you should have no problem- even my ryokan took credit cards-but not all ryokan do.

BigFeat

I have elected to use one CC for my hotel payment and carry cash for the remainder of the days. It appears that exchanging hard currency at a bank in Narita is very reasonable. I too have fears of not being able to find a suitable ATM. I think half the trouble comes in to finding an ATM period. I talked to a couple bank agents in Narita and their rates were actually slightly better then what my CC company said I would be subjected to. With that said, I think its safe to travel with a lot of hard US currency and change it to Yen at an office in Japan. US Currency exchange offices said they would charge me a commission fee + higher rate. However, all Japanese bank exchange rates that were quoted to me were inclusive of all/any fees. Besides, some card companies charge as much as $4.50 ATM withdrawal fees overseas. I don't even think a pre-paid cash card will be much help.

Airlawgirl

BigFeat- I don't know as I'd want to carry large sums of cash around with me, even in Japan, where thefts are most uncommon. Actually, there is a very useful thread on the Europe forum about which bank cards charge the lowest rates for foreign transactions that I found very useful-an MBNA card apparently has the lowest transaction rate. My debit card worked just fine at the Citibank ATMs at Narita and downtown Tokyo, and of course, using your debit card will get you the bank exchange rate, which is far better than what you would get exchanging US hard currency for yen.

BigFeat

Airlawgirl:

I was sorta leaning more towards the convenience of having cash versus card. As many trips that I have taken to cities around Europe I'd have to say I always got a suprise once I reviewed my bank account statement. Moreover, I remember chasing after ATMs in Paris for 20-30 minutes at times. Once you venture out of the tourist districts, forget about it. Especially when most plp couldn't understand the word "ATM" because it was not commonly used to describe the machine.

Here is what I based my opinion on; I asked the following representatives the following questions with the hypothesis that all transactions were to happen at the time of the conversation. The online XE rates at the time were qouted at 112 Yen = $1 usd...

My bank - Debit Master Card
Qquot;How much Yen can I expect to get out of a $1 usd withdrawal with my debit card at an ATM in Japan right now?"
Aquot;109 Yen for $1 usd withdrawn (not including ATM fees (if applicable)".

Qquot;If I made a CC payment of 109 Yen how many USD would I expect to see debited from my debit card statement?"
Aquot;$1 usd".

This is what transpired after speaking to a bank agent in Narita:

Qquot;How much yen can I expect to get from you if I hand over $1 usd in hard currency?"
Aquot;109.79 Yen"

Qquot;Will you charge me commission on top of that figure?"
Aquot;No, its all inclusive"

This is what transpired after speaking to a currency exchange agent in the US:

Qquot;How much yen can I expect to get from you if I hand over $1 usd in hard currency?"
Aquot;108 Yen"

Qquot;Will you charge me commission on top of that figure?"
Aquot;yes, an additional 1% for total figure amount or $5"

All these conversations took place the same day. It did appear that the Japanese rate was slightly better. In addition, it didn't really seem that I would be saving money if I used my debit ATM card in Japan either. So being that changing the hard currency with an agent would give me favorable rates that would be comparable to using my debit ATM card the convenience is that at least I know I have the Yen available and not worry about looking for an ATM machine. This might be helpful to some if they plan on paying for small purchases within their first day of arrival. Moreover, remember that ATMs are limited to a fixed amount per 24hrs thus having large sums of hard currency may be easier to get out of tight binds in the back country .

AGoela

I know that there are going to be CitiBanks in Japan and Taiwan and I am planning a trip there in Oct. I was considering opening an account with Citibank, so that I do not have to worry about carrying so much money with me and that it would be easier to take money out. What do you think?

Thank you in advance,
Amit

SamH

Yes, major hotels and bigger restaruants will take credit cards. Smaller places and Ryokan are hit and miss. Post Office ATM's are usually a good bet and also the Citibank ATMs.
One side note about Debit cards... maybe a quirk with our bank... Retailers in Japan would allow my teenage son to purchase whatever he wanted, regardless of whether he had any money in his account or not. Imagine our surprise when his monthly statement arrived. I figured I should check it since he hadn't asked for any money in a while. Well, needless to say he had a big negative balance as well as several service charges.
Seems the banks there wait 2-3 weeks before posting transactions. As you can imagine it didn't take long to run up some debt in a hurry while he was in the Tokyo-Yokahama area.
sam

BigFeat

I have noticed similar instances to what SamH described. A lot of debit cash cards will boast that one can only spend what's available. That said, that means those cards can never have a negative balance (in theory or claims of service). Again, I just believe CC usage should be left for large sum payments (ie hotels, department store). Anything else may cause one to get carried away with account tracking. I too have been surprised by debit/cc statements many of times when traveling overseas.