We've been in Singapore for several months and will be leaving here Thursday morning to spend 2 weeks in Japan before returning to the US. In Singapore we have relied on our American bank card for cash from ATM's and planned to do the same in Japan because it had worked so well here--until the beginning of this month when suddenly no ATM would give us cash. We have communicated with our American bank, which explained that it had changed its internal software and several people had reported the problem. Over a week of phone calls and emails, our bank has not been able to fix our problem. Because we are 13 hours ahead of NY, I can't communicate with them again until tonight, 8 pm our time, 8 am theirs, and I am concerned we're running out of time for a fix. Any ideas or suggestions for solutions or sensible alternatives?

Do you have another ATM/debit card linked to a different checking account, or a credit card? You can pay hotel and restaurant meals (except in cheaper places) with your card, and get cash advance. True it will cost you in interest charges but should tide you over. Non-Japanese cards are accepted at post office ATMs, 7-Eleven convenience stores, Citibank and a few other places.

It seems to me that this is the responsibility of your bank to fix this. If necessary, they should be able to overnight a new ATM card.

I would definitely ask the bank to either overnight an ATM card ( to your hotel in Japan?) or to agree to pay the fees on a large cash advance from your credit card, whether it is their credit card or not.

Another, but much less convenient fix, would be for them to wire cash from your account to a bank in Tokyo. From what I've read, there doesn't seem to be a Western union office in Tokyo anymore.

Each time I go to Japan it seems more and more places accept credit cards, but you'll still need some cash!

Nothing else to add to above posts - just curious as to what bank this is....they certainly should be responsible for figuring out how you can get some cash.....

To all: Thanks for your advice. I'll see what customer service says when I talk to them this evening. And I'll be prepared with the address of my Tokyo hotel if "overnight" would mean delivery after Wednesday.
I do have another bank's bankcard. I guess I could ask that Bank A wire funds to that Bank B account.
Mara, it is a small independent upstate New York Bank, with which we've been very happy.

Outcome: We talked to the bank tonight and they are overnight fed-exing new bank cards to us at our Tokyo hotel.

Great! I'm so glad you got it resolved!

Now, go enjoy Japan.

Terrific, thanks for answering my question. Since I travel alone I am always a bit worried about a similar problem - so I carry two bankcards and three credit cards just in case as well as a little US cash.....

Where are you going in Japan?

I travel with 3 different debit cards and 4 different credit cards.

There is always a problem with a debit or a credit card.

The latest snafu was when someone cloned my primary credit card. When the identify thief tried to use the cloned card, the bank detected the fraud and immediately disabled my account (good.) But it also meant that what I was carrying was a piece of worthless plastic.

I am always amazed by those who travel with only one debit and one credit card.