Japanese Yen

[mj_holiday]

I have read several places that the best place to get Yen from the ATM is at a 7-11 (the Japanese style) and not an airport in Tokyo.  With tours and stuff it may take a day or two to find the 7-11.

 

I would like to ask those of you who have been on a cruise going around Japan, did you get some local currency and where did you get it.  We plan to rely on credit cards, but from reading some of our excursions, looks like there will be some locally made items from stands that may not accept credit cards.

[labonnevie]

12 minutes ago, mj_holiday said:

I have read several places that the best place to get Yen from the ATM is at a 7-11 (the Japanese style) and not an airport in Tokyo.  With tours and stuff it may take a day or two to find the 7-11.

 

I would like to ask those of you who have been on a cruise going around Japan, did you get some local currency and where did you get it.  We plan to rely on credit cards, but from reading some of our excursions, looks like there will be some locally made items from stands that may not accept credit cards.

We spent 17 days in April, 3 precruise, 14 cruise. 
We never got any yen. However, we are not big shoppers, especially typical souvenirs. 

[cwn]

The last two times we have been to Japan we got yen before we left home. We could not find a working ATM the first trip and needed some local cash upon getting off the ship. So lesson learned… DH ordered some yen and made a day trip to the big city bank to get it. Japan has some great things and we are great shoppers at small local markets and not all take credit cards.

[tubeamps]

We got yen at home, bank just charged a flat $15 fee for however many yen you want.

That said, not sure about best exchange rate, but Lawsons and 7-11s are everywhere.

we we’re there a week ago.

[cwn]

For what we pay to cruise with Regent, after some bad experiences it is worth having local cash in hand when we get off the ship. He doesn’t like to have to look for a cash machine  in  somewhere open and that is working. After couple of bad experiences, he likes his port days stress 😀free.  This is a case of to each his own.

[Zach1213]

Never cruised to Japan, but I visit Japan fairly frequently for business. I do have some Yen that carries over from trip to trip, but generally I just use my cards everywhere. When I do need need or want cash, I either use a bank ATM or duck in to something like 7-11 or Family Mart (unless I need it immediately off of the plane, in which case I do use an airport ATM). Both of those chains are seemingly everywhere in Japan and won't be hard to find.

2 hours ago, cwn said:

We could not find a working ATM the first trip and needed some local cash upon getting off the ship

 

That stinks. I've used ATMs in many various corners of Japan for the last 15+ years and have never had a problem. 

 

[RetiredandTravel]

There are quite a few places in Japan that don't takes credit cards, cash only.

 

https://www.jal.co.jp/hk/en/guide-to-japan/plan-your-trip/tips/what-to-know-about-using-money-in-japan.html

 

 

[cwn]

3 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

Never cruised to Japan, but I visit Japan fairly frequently for business. I do have some Yen that carries over from trip to trip, but generally I just use my cards everywhere. When I do need need or want cash, I either use a bank ATM or duck in to something like 7-11 or Family Mart (unless I need it immediately off of the plane, in which case I do use an airport ATM). Both of those chains are seemingly everywhere in Japan and won't be hard to find.

 

That stinks. I've used ATMs in many various corners of Japan for the last 15+ years and have never had a problem. 

 

My son works for a Japanese company and it in Japan regularly now and many things have changed. Mainly Google maps and translate!!
 

The first time we were there 2005, we were doing a Beijing  to Bangkok cruise. It was our first trip overseas not to Europe. We had an over night port stop in Osaka and was pouring down rain when we got off the ship. We were going to Kyoto on the train for the night. No credit card taxi, the port ATM was not working and the little shop outside the port was not open that had an ATM. We had to walk to a subway entrance where there was anATM. By then we were really cranky and very wet.  We somehow got ourselves to the train station and Kyoto. It was an experience, but we had so much fun we have been back twice for a week at a time pre or post cruise. We have never done a ship’s tour just own our on or with car and driver for a day. But since then we always get some local money ahead of time!

Edited November 14, 2023 by cwn

[Scout16]

In April/May of this year I used the ATM in the hotel lobby when I got to Japan and then I saw ATMs at almost all the ports we stopped at either in the terminal or built into a van where there was no terminal.  My one complaint is that you tend to get mainly high value currency so you have to buy something to get the bills broken to more usable bills.

[MisterBubba]

If you have an iphone you may want to consider adding an IC card to your wallet prior to arriving.  While mainly used for transit, the IC card is accepted at a lot of places (including those neat vending machines) as payment.  It's easy to reload your IC card with whatever credit card you have in your apple wallet.  

 

Here's a guide on how to add the IC card: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207155

 

Here's a guide on how to use it: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207154

[naplessailor]

We were in Japan after a transpacific voyage so we did not have any Yen. At our first two stops there was a small currency exchange set up on the dock to exchange money ( and the exchange rate was pretty reasonable).  In some of the smaller ports, many small shops, vendors and restaurants did not take credit cards so Japanese Yen was a must have.  My friend exchanged on the pier and was happy.  I went to a 7-11 and had no problem exchanging money with a BofA card.  Other passengers with other cards (Chase and Truist) were not able to get currency as their cards were rejected.  Not sure why.  Probably best to get some before you travel if you are going to smaller destinations.  In the large cities, credit cards are widely accepted but not by smaller vendors.

[makai 7]

We brought some “leftover Yen” from business trips with us.  We never used it.  In some places we used a credit card.  We didn’t buy any little souvenirs so no need for the currency.  Our guides were happy with $USD for tips.