mcgiraldi

Can you please tell me if it is best to carry money (yen) from home to Japan. Or bing prt of it from home and get the rest from atm?

Thank you
Maria

Mara

I get yen at 7Eleven convenience stores which are pretty much all over - at least in cities. Post offices also have ATMs. My bank doesn't charge a foreign currency conversion fee. 7Eleven charges 220 yen for withdrawals of 20,000 yen...

mrwunrfl

]>> to carry money (yen) from home to Japan
Worst is to exchange currency at your home/departure airport. (There are accounts at some financial institutions where you can get a good deal. You might get some from a bank and it might not suck too bad to get 20,000 yen if you are anxious about having some)

Better is to do cujrrency exchange in Japan but you want to avoid this.

Best is to use an ATM card when you get to Japan, but you need to find out what the charges would be. You want there to be no foreign transaction fee. ATM or debit card but not a credit card. Some debit cards refund any fees applied the bank that processes the transaction (the ATM could be anywhere).

There are ATMs that handle foreign cards at your arrival airport and at least some of the shinkansen stations as well as what Mara mentioned.

You sh/could take some large bills as a backup, enough to buy 20 or 30 thousand yen. Assuming your home currency isn't rubles or something funky.

crellston

https://www.insidekyoto.com/getting-money-in-kyoto a pretty good article covering most of what you need to know. It is about Kyoto but the same applies to Tokyo and other major cities

mrwunrfl

Yeah, that covers it. Interesting to learn that exchange of currencies other that US$ and Euros is pretty bad.

That article seems to put getting cash using a credit card at an ATM on a par with getting cash with a\n ATM/Debit card. It goes on to explain that getting cash at the counter inside the bank is a last resort. That would be least convenient, but using a credit card at an ATM is a cash advance the same as going inside the bank. The interest rate is (probably) higher than on a purchase and the interest accrues right away unlike a purchase. The cash advance fee could be 5%. IDK how those costs compare to currency exchange for USD or EUR, but might be less than exchanging CAD or GBP currency. But, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do it.

Guenmai

I never leave home without some foreign currency on me. I've used the same local foreign exchange place since probably the early 90s and the rates are quite good. For many years, I've dealt with the same person who runs the place. But, I live in Los Angeles County.
As for Japan, I was there three summers straight through 2019 and never used an ATM machine on any of the trips. In Kyoto, I just went to the exchange place a few steps from one of my hotels. Fast and easy. I don't feel like dealing with ATMs if I don't have to do such, but will if I have to. I get a lot of cash at once and then I'm pretty much done. As for purchases, I can use a credit card or my Suica card and as for my hotels, they're already pre-paid. As for my trips to Japan, I stay 2-3 weeks straight.

Happy Travels!

ms_go

We were just in Japan a few weeks ago (Tokyo, Matsumoto, Kamikochi, Takayama and Kanazawa). We only used ATMs to get cash. I took some US$ with me just in case I needed to use an exchange, but never did. As mentioned, the 7-11 and Family Dollar stores typically have ATMs that take international cards.

In fact, we needed far less cash on this trip than I expected and only used an ATM a couple of times (total of about US$250, and we had some of that left over at the end). Most places we ate took credit cards - even very small ones. We had trouble getting our credit card to work in some machines at train stations, including the machines that dispense and top up SUICA cards - so some of our cash went for that and a few regional train tickets.

mrwunrfl

Use the ATM. You will get the interbank rate which which is the rate used when banks exchange millions of dollars for hundreds of millions of yen electronically. It is the published rate you will see on the internet, give or take a couple of yen per dollar. You would incur a 1% fee from Visa if your ATM/Debit card has a Visa logo.

The ATM beats a USD/JPY currency, cash, exchange no matter where you do it. It is better than the cash exchange you would get in Japan which is better than the rate you would get in the USA.

I got 30,000 yen at a standalone 7-11 ATM in Fukuoka. It was posted to my account on November 9th.

The cost:
$206.87 for the yen (rate of 145.018 yen/dollar)
$1.51 ATM fee which was reimbursed to my account by Fidelity

That ATM fee must have been 220 yen and would be at a rate of 145.695

Here are the 'official' exchange rates around the date of my withdrawal:
November 2022
7th 145.65
8th 145.34
9th 146.20
10th open 146.45, close 138.84 (from oanda dot com. other rates are google)
11th 138.80

The rate dropped 7 yen/$ in two days. That would be 1400 yen on $200. Not a lot of money but it is the cost of an okonomiyaki and bottle of Pocari Sweat.

Japan is trying to get away from cash. The cost of having people transport and stock the ATMs are costs that the banks want to get away from.

But the costs of a currency exchange business, like the one in Kyoto, are higher. They have rent, utilities, wages to pay. Profit to make. Currency fluctuations to protect themselves against. At the end of the day they have USD, CAD, GBP, etc and they will have more in those currencies than they will be able to sell for JPY the next day. At some point, they are going to have to convert the excess to yen to pay their bills, etc.

Guenmai

I've used the exchange place below since the early 90s and will continue to use them.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/foreign-cur...e&rh_ident=Yen

Happy Travels!

mrwunrfl

That place gave me a quote of 135 yen/$, so 135000 for $1000. No fee. That's not bad.
The bank rate is 139,965, so the ATM would give 138,565 after the 1% Visa fee.

That is a difference of about $25 per thousand. So getting $250 worth of yen at an ATM saves about $6.25. That's nothing to hoot and holler about, but still.

ChgoGal

In Japan now. 7-Bank (7-Eleven) ATMs are so easy, provided you just hit the 'English' language option right at the start. We were in Tokyo and Kyoto, and the only real time we HAD to use cash so far was to top-up/reload our SUICA card to ride the trains and buses. We just used our Suica to ride the limousine bus from Kyoto statin to Osaka Itami. Otherwise, our credit card (with no foreign transaction fees) has been used for Starbucks, dining, and groceries without any issues.

30,000 JPY = $216.65 plus $6.5 "adjustment" fee in early June.
20,000 JPY = $146.07; adjustment not yet posted in early June

There's a large group of us--many who would be more comfortable paying in cash at convenience stores or casual restaurants, so we're divvying up more cash, but if I were solo, or a couple, I'd probably just withdraw 10,000 JPY and use credit card for everything else.

We did start with a little yen, as we had some left over from our pre-covid visit, but at Haneda airport, could've easily gotten yen right away at arrivals.

I can't speak to currency exchanges or bank rates, as I've not used them in the past decade. I recall at my bank in Chicago, I had to go to the Loop (downtown) location to ensure they had yen at all.

mrwunrfl

>> 30,000 JPY = $216.65 plus $6.5 "adjustment" fee in early June.
That would be 134.44 yen/$ when the bank rate, i.e. the interbank rate, has been 138.6 or more this month.

Where did that $6.50 spanking come from? Without it, you got a good rate.

Guenmai

For me it's about convenience and I personally don't find having to search for an ATM machine as convenient every time I need money. Plus, at my exchange place on one trip, I called in the amount of money that I needed and it was even driven to my door by a person who works there as the person was on his way home and had to pass through my L.A. County city. I really did't have time that day to zip across the freeway to the exchange place. The service there is great.
Another thing I don't like is having to be restricted as to how much I can withdraw from an ATM machine. I like to exchange large amounts at once and basically be done with it or almost done with it on most of my trips.
My exchange place has come to my rescue more than a few times over the decades and one time even stayed open beyond the closing time, on a Friday, to wait for me to zip into Downtown L.A. to pick up some foreign currency that I needed. The airline that I was to fly on, contacted me at the last minute to inform me that they could issue me a frequent flyer ticket and it was Friday and I was to leave a few days later and didn't have any foreign currency for that country.
When I arrived at the exchange place, the valet took my car, I ran up to the exchange place and my money was packaged and ready to go. I had my U.S. dollars ready for payment and the person who helped me was the same woman who was kind enough to have my money driven to me a few years ago. I'm not one to squabble about some things as convenience is more important to me in some situations. Plus, I've also found that in a lot of situations that the higher amounts of money exchanged can many times get one a higher exchange rate.

Happy Travels!

ChgoGal

Yeah, my bank (a big one) calls it a Foreign Exchange Rate Adjustment Fee, and is 3%. Was $4.38 for the second withdrawal of 20,000 JPY ($146.07). That was a few days ago. Today, on xe.com, the exchange on 20,000 JPY is $142.89 ( 1 JPY = 0.00714450 USD). I don't choose the dynamic currency conversion, but choose local yen, which I understood to be the better choice.

My charge card from same bank has no fees. It's just that debit card.

Reading54

Some banks at home charge more than just the 3% fee for ATM withdrawal in Japan.

For example, Bank of America does not have a partnership bank in Japan. Therefore, using BoA's ATM card to withdraw JPY in Japan will incur a $5 (non-Bank-of-America ATM usage fee) + 3% (international transaction fee) from Bank of America.

mrwunrfl

>> For me it's about convenience and I personally don't find having to search for an ATM machine as convenient every time I need money.

Yes, finding an ATM in Japan can be a PITA sometimes. I can agree that getting a 135 rate from that lady in LA (she was there and gave me the quote even though the place was closed) instead of 140 is good enough. That 5 yen difference is nbd.

The need for cash is less these days. Twenty or so years ago I would go to the ATM at Narita and get 90,000 yen - the max I could get under my daily withdrawal limit of $900. That was when the rate was around 110. The rule of thumb back then when looking at yen prices of things was to figure that 100 yen = 1 USD.

I think that maybe ATMs are easier to find. I got cash at Canal City Hakata shopping mall in Fukuoka. One storefront was a kind of banking center with a bunch of ATM. No staff, just Japanese bank ATMs that did not accept foreign cards. Not far from that was a standalong 7-bank ATM, tucked into a nook, that took my card. I don't think that ATM would have been there in 2001 on my first visit to the city. I didn't need the cash, its just that the exchange rate (145) was too good to pass up.

The reality is that the exchange rate varies during your stay. When I used a credit card to pay my hotel bill in Fukuoka the rate was about 145. A few days later when I paid a Tokyo hotel bill the rate was 138.

The rate drop was due to the Bank of Japan making noises that they might increase interest rates. The Finance Ministry and pretty much the rest of the world thought they should do so. They didn't, or maybe made some minor increase. But the yen strengthened to 128 by Jan 2023. IDK why. Today it is at a very nice 140 per USD.

1 usd to yen - Google Search

mrwunrfl

>> I don't choose the dynamic currency conversion, but choose local yen, which I understood to be the better choice.

ChgoGal, that is smart. Your understanding is correct. You would do well to get a different ATM/debit card.

>> Use the ATM.
That was my advice and I should have caveated it by saying to do that as long as the card issuer doesn't impose any fees.

Reading54, am glad you posted that BoA info.

mrwunrfl

Credit unions offer checking accounts with no monthly maintenance fees, no minimum balance requirements, and likely no electronic deposit requirement (or very low like $100). They likely don't charge for use of an out-of-networlk ATM but you would have to pay any fee imposed by the ATM owner (like the 110 or 220 yen fee from 7-bank in japan).

Brokerage firms, including those that manage IRA and 401K accounts, offer free checking accounts. They even reimburse you for fees charged by the ATM owner. You can fund the account by making a (free) transfer from a checking account at a bank or credit union and then use that debit card at an ATM.

btw, an electronic deposit requirement doesn't have to be a direct deposit (like from a paycheck). It can be met by doing an online transfer from another, linked, account - any ACH deposit will do.

Guenmai

mrwunrfl: You probably talked to Michelle at my currency exchange place. She's the manager and I've been dealing with her since I first started going there. As for yen, I think I exchanged about $1,500- $2,000 worth from there on two of the trips. Then, on one of the other trips, I also got money from there. But, I remember going to the exchange place in Kyoto, a few steps from one of my hotels, to exchange some money as it was the end of that one trip and I figured that I should get a few more cash bills just in case. But, I had gotten my main amount of money here in L.A. before leaving home.
As for my regular two hotels in Kyoto, I didn't see any ATM machines nearby on any of the three trips. But, it didn't matter as I had cash. And as for Tokyo and Fukuoka, I also had cash. I paid my Fukuoka private driver for half a day in cash. I also paid my Kyoto private driver in cash. I had the same Kyoto driver on three different trips as he was great. I hired him for two, half days out of around 10 days in Kyoto.
On the last trip, my driver drove me from Kyoto to the Miho Museum among a lot of other places. And on another day, he drove me to the countryside and at a tiny restaurant where we had lunch, we were the only two people there. I made the itinerary, e-mailed it to him before leaving L.A., and then he could not only critique it, but also let me know how many hours it would take as the rate is by the hour. He spoke fluent English as he had studied in the UK on an exchange program back when he was around college age. On my other days in Kyoto, I either took a taxi or the public bus to different places. And to zip over to Osaka to shop, I took the regular local train from Kyoto and was back to Kyoto in time for dinner. That train ticket was around $5.00 each way. That was in the summer of 2019.
Happy Travels!

Guenmai

It's the same with some other U.S. banks as my bank also charges the same as you have described. But, credit unions are better if one wants or needs to use ATMs overseas. I had to use an ATM machine a few times in Europe and once in Hong Kong. But, I used the credit union debit card and the credit union fee was 90 cents. On the trip to Asia which I included Hong Hong (2017), I was gone for my usual 6 weeks to S.E. Asia, but added Hong Kong although not in S.E. Asia. All, but three days of the 6-week trip, were spent in Southeast Asia as usual and where currency exchange places are plentiful and with decent rates where I go. But, in Hong Kong it was a different situation with exchange rates, so I used my credit union debit card at the ATM inside of my hotel. I got enough money for 3 days and after Hong Kong, I was heading back to Singapore for some more days, before flying home to L.A. I was in 4 countries on that trip and only had to use an ATM machine in Hong Kong during the six weeks that was in Asia.
Happy Travels!