Money Money Money..... must be funny...

[morgan]

When i go to japan for my holiday am i better off getting american dollars or yen?? Or should i get travellers cheques?

I was told that because the exchange rate is so good between english pounds and american dollars i should change my money to dollars and then to yen... should i change my money in england or japan??

Will my debit and credit cards work in japan??

[Nyororin]

It`s usually best in the end to change your money through a *bank* and then take it with you. Airport exchange rates are atrocious. I can`t imagine you ending up with more money if you went the Pounds->Dollars->Yen way, as there are fees at every level.
You can`t actually use Dollars in Japan, so it definitely seems like a waste of time and money to me.

Credit cards work in Japan (if they`re international type cards) but debit cards are quite iffy. I believe some work, some don`t, and some appear to work but charge massive fees. It`s better to be safe than sorry.

[samokan]

Ive never had any problem exchanging money in the airport before. Travellers cheque has a little bit higher exchange rate compared with the actual cash. So on our business trips before, we usually insists to include traveller's cheque and cash. Don't exchange all your money in the airport, just enough , then you can go to banks to actually change them there. There are some stores already that have foreign exchange counters ( very rare though ) but their rate are way smaller.

If credit cards, Visa type is the most common. Lately, ive seen a lot of american express but only on major area/stores. Ive got a citibank visa, and ive got no problem using it

[jasonbvr]

If you went pounds to dollars to yen, you would have lost 1 yen for each pound exchanged today. So if you changed 550 pounds, you would've lost 550 yen which could've bought you a double cheeseburger, fries and a coke from McDonalds. The differences are not really big enough to go through all that trouble. Plus, you're not going to get an exact exchange anyways since the banks always take their cut. So you would actually lose money even if you could gain on the differences in rates.

ATM cards in Japan are smart card versus the magnetic strip which is standard in the US. Smart cards have the gold looking chip embedded in it and I believe are standard pan-Europe so if you have that you should be alright.

[Kaicui]

i usually exchange the USD for yen at the local bank b4 i even board the plane. Always keep a bit of USD on u tho

[Demongoddess]

Yeah,it's better to exchange your money before going.Or,if for some reason you can't find a place that will exchange money in Japan,like at the airport there,for little or no fee.And yeah,It helps to bring a little American money too.

[morgan]

Excellent - thanks for the advice.. i think i'll try and get yen from the post office (cos its free to exchange), not bother with the USD, and take my credit cards, all the cards in england use the chip now so thats cool.