Exchanging £s Sterling to Yen / Getting cash out in Japan

July 15, 2008 1:12 AM

I'm going to Japan (from the UK) and want to arrange my cash for out there - I don't want to go down the traditional credit card route as they seem to sting you for allsorts of fees nowadays. 2 parts to this question: 1. Where would I get the better deal / exchange rate for changing my Sterling to Yen? In the UK before I go, or in Japan once I'm there? 2. (This one is very specific to a UK Bank) Does anyone know if a Nationwide Flex / current account Visa card will work in many cash machines in Japan? Any help gratefully received.
posted by mairuzu to Work & Money (9 answers total)

I have a Nationwide Flexaccount and generally Nationwide are good about fees etc. - don't believe everything you read. If you withdraw cash with your debit card there's no fee, though you'd have to look into comparative exchange rates. As to whether your card will work, I don't know - though I'd have thought Visa as a worldwide standard would be widely accepted.
posted by altolinguistic at 1:22 AM on July 15, 2008

ATMs are hard to find in Japan, as there aren't that many which accept foreign cards. Generally you have to find either a Citibank or a post office, whose hours are restricted. Be sure to take enough cash out for a few days at a turn. Be sure to take more than one type of card if you can - Visa and Maestro/Cirrus just in case.

If you end up exchanging cash, I find the exchanges at Narita airport very good. Good rates, no fees. You fill in a slip with what you want and get in line, very easy.
posted by wingless_angel at 1:45 AM on July 15, 2008

I can't speak specifically as to Japan or Nationwide but my experience elsewhere has been:

a) The cut taken by banks for foreign transactions is roughly equivalent to the hit you take in exchanging money. Hence, I usually don't worry about exchanging for cash unless I want some folding money. Your bank may be different. If you want cash, it seems to me that getting it at the airport before you leave may be the best deal, or you could get double stung by the card fees and exchange overheads.

b) If a card is a Visa, that's the important thing regardless of the issuing bank. And most ATMs will accept Visa.
posted by outlier at 2:30 AM on July 15, 2008

Some of the main post offices have cash points that are essentially available 24/7.

One thing to note is that the post office cash machines have the numbers in a row, not the usual 3 by 3 +'0' grid, which really threw me off
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:57 AM on July 15, 2008

We only use my partner's Nationwide debit card when overseas as they don't charge international transaction fees - we travel a lot and, when fees are factored in, the best exchange rate is always that offered by Nationwide through the ATM. Using my Lloyd's card is at least 10% more expensive, and currency exchanges are usually even more expensive (taking into account commission).
posted by goo at 3:42 AM on July 15, 2008

According to my brother, who lives in Tokyo, Japanese banks turn off the ATM when the bank is closed.
posted by winston at 4:50 AM on July 15, 2008

The general rule of thumb when visiting Japan is that unlike virtually any other country you can think of, the airport is the BEST place to exchange your currency. I'm not quite sure why this is, to be honest, and I still recommend seeing if your bank can get you some Japanese cash before you leave, since at least in the USA that's about the best way to not get ripped off when exchanging currencies.

Postal ATMs are plentiful and open for longer hours than most banks' ATMs,* and if your bank's ATM card has a Maestro or Cirrus logo on it, it should work just fine. My bank in the US charged me $3.50 for every time I made a withdrawal abroad, but the post office ATMs in Japan didn't charge me a thing. Easiest way to find a post office, if you aren't familiar with Japan, is to look for a red sign with a white capital T on it with a horizontal line over the crossbar at the top of the T.

Japan is still rather a cash-based society, although I've noticed that the easiest way to guess whether a given store will have credit/debit card equipment is if you can go there and expect to pay 5,000 yen or more for a single item in a relatively ordinary trip there. So most grocery stores and convenience stores generally won't let you use plastic, but most department stores (and other larger chains) will.

*ATMs have hours in Japan, and may actually close for the evenings and weekends. You can also wind up having to pay a service charge for using them during non-business hours. I'm told that at one point there was even a Japanese web site that had specific hours.
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:54 AM on July 15, 2008

i don't know about exchange rates, but I've used Visa in one Japanese ATM (it didn't work in another) so it's definitely possible. Also, I think you will be surprised at the small amount of ATMs here. Since I came from the UK, I was used to carrying a tiny amount of cash and paying for everything by card, but over here I usually visit the ATM once every couple of weeks, and pay for everything by cash. I don't worry at all about being mugged etc.

And, DoctorFedora, there is at least one website in the UK which has opening hours... A government agency, no less.
posted by mjg123 at 6:24 AM on July 15, 2008

You will want to use cash as much as possible. Japan is very cash based and using a credit card for a purchase is a huge pain, if not downright impossible in quite a few places. (And if your CC company puts a fraud alert on your card because you're charging it in Japan... Lets say it's a pain to get straightened out across time zones and phone systems. Let your CC company know you'll be traveling.)

In addition to Citibank and Post Office ATMs, most of 7-11's ATMs now work with foreign cards.
posted by Ookseer at 10:35 AM on July 15, 2008