Need advice on exchanging money

[anrakushi]

get travellers cheques, it is a safe way to take your money. make increments of $500 and you are sweet. i wouldn't rely on ATMs in Japan, while i was living there I saw my friends have trouble with cards from banks like citibank etc. hell my japanese debit card wasn't accepted at some convenience stores and atms.

[aikochan86]

But with a travellers cheque most of the time you're going to have to go to a bank right? But a Visa or Mastercard would work in more locations. And if it doesn't surely a bank would let you take out money from a Visa card anyway.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by aikochan86

I'm leaving on the 28th of March and come back on the 25th of May.

I’ve decided against travellers cheques because I think they’re going to be too inconvenient.

I had a look at the account fees for withdrawing money from my NAB account. It will cost $4 per transaction plus 2% of the amount I’m taking out for the currency exchange fee. The maximum amount I’ll be able to withdraw is $5000 because that’s all I’ll have and so that will be $100 over the whole trip. As for the $4 transaction fees, I’ll just have to take out large amounts and this wont be a problem when I’m with host families and can keep my money at home.

I was worried about compatibility so looked into that too and found this:

“The big exceptions are the ATMs found at the over 20,000 post offices and over 10,000 7-Eleven convenience stores across the country. These ATMs allow you to withdraw cash by credit and debit cards issued outside of Japan, including Visa, Plus, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, American Express and JCB cards and provide an English user menu.”

So it looks like I won’t have a problem with cards. I think I might keep one card with my passport and the other in my wallet so that way I’ll have a back up if anything happens. Internet access is everywhere and I can transfer from one account to the other so it doesn’t matter which card I use.

That's how I've decided to deal with it and I'll just have to keep an eye on exchange rates. If the exchange rate gets too bad then it will only become a problem for me in the last week or so of my trip as I'll be running low on cash by then. At that point I can either head home early or ask my bf/parents to lend me a couple of hundred dollars to tide me over.

There are travellers atm card things that you can get but they also have fees and are not 100% reliable.

Exchange your money as early and as much as possible. Do not count on those ATMs to work with foreign credit cards. I cannot tell you how much time I have wasted trying to find one that works. Even though it says VISA it doesn't mean it works with all VISA cards. VISA is safe for using as a credit card when buying things like clothes or meals, but getting cash is another story.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by anrakushi

get travellers cheques, it is a safe way to take your money. make increments of $500 and you are sweet. i wouldn't rely on ATMs in Japan, while i was living there I saw my friends have trouble with cards from banks like citibank etc. hell my japanese debit card wasn't accepted at some convenience stores and atms.

travellers cheques are a pain in the butt in Japan.

[aikochan86]

Originally Posted by MMM

Exchange your money as early and as much as possible. Do not count on those ATMs to work with foreign credit cards. I cannot tell you how much time I have wasted trying to find one that works. Even though it says VISA it doesn't mean it works with all VISA cards. VISA is safe for using as a credit card when buying things like clothes or meals, but getting cash is another story.

I'm going to be taking a little over ￥60,000 there with me but I'm going for two months so it's not really practical for me to get all my money changed.

Thanks for the warning though, I guess if I find one that works I should definitely take note and take out big amounts when I can.

[chachava]

Originally Posted by aikochan86

I'm going to be taking a little over ￥60,000 there with me but I'm going for two months so it's not really practical for me to get all my money changed.

Thanks for the warning though, I guess if I find one that works I should definitely take note and take out big amounts when I can.

trust me, cash is less risky than finding an atm that likes your card...

If you are really worried about cash, would it be an option to take what you want for the day, then stick the rest in one of those train station lockers? no chance of them being broken into...

[aikochan86]

Oh, I don't intend on using my card everyday. But say.. I'm going to a place near Nagoya and staying there for 3 weeks. I'd take out 45,000yen for my host family and maybe 30,000 yen for me to spend over the three weeks. I don't mind if I have to go to a few convenience stores or post offices to find an atm that works.

I'm going for 2 months so I'd be an idiot to change all my money over (450,000yen) and carry that around with me.

I'll have a Plus bank card and a Visa credit card so I've got a back-up even if one gets eaten. I also took a school group to Japan in January and one of my students used a card and had no problem accessing his funds from a 7/11.

Worst case scenario is that I really struggle finding a place to accept either of my cards and I have to kick up a fuss about it and find someone who will help me sort it out. However, I really really doubt that I'm going to have significant trouble finding an atm. Even if I do I assume that I could call Visa, tell them where I am and ask them where I can go to access my money.

[anrakushi]

i wouldn't have a problem changing all my money over if it was only that much, i have no fears carrying large amounts in japan, i carried around 300,000 with me at one stage.

[reptilesandsamurai]

this site has Visa locations that should work although I had no problems getting money out from the ATMs at 7/11

ATM Locator | Visa ATMs | Find Bank Cash Machines

[aikochan86]

Originally Posted by anrakushi

i wouldn't have a problem changing all my money over if it was only that much, i have no fears carrying large amounts in japan, i carried around 300,000 with me at one stage.

Maybe it's because I'm a girl travelling alone... but yeah, I think I'd worry a little.

When I was in Asakusa last a man came up behind me and grabbed hold of my head with both hands and pulled at my hair, I think he was intellectually disabled or something but it shook me up a little and made me feel less safe.