ATMs are practically everywhere in Japan and some will give you exact change, even the yen.
But, you will quickly find that when you stick your card into one, you will most likely spit it out again.
You see, unlike many places in Europe and Canada, Japan is not as ATM friendly for visitors, especially the further you travel from major cities.
Most banking machines only accept cards issued in Japan, regardless of whether they have the Visa or MasterCard logo printed on them or not.
The ATMs that will take your card and deliver your cash most consistently are those operated by Japan Post. To find one, you can use this website, if you know any level of Japanese. If not, don’t worry: just find the location of the nearest Japan post office or ask your hotel reception where it is, and there will likely be an ATM there. Or look for a Japan Post money machine in a nearby mall, as most have one somewhere in the building. The national bank / postal service has more than 25,000 ATMs nationwide, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
If a Japan Post ATM is not nearby, another option is Seven Bank ATMs located in 7-Eleven stores across the country. Click on this website in Spanish to find locations. Also, Mizuho’s banking machines are scheduled to accept foreign cards in 2015.
Money machine advice
But be careful: there are several surprises that visitors to Japan discover when they use, or attempt to use, ATM cards there.
- ATMs like the ones Seven Bank operates sometimes limit the cards they accept. For example, in 2013 they stopped accepting MasterCard, but as of January 10, 2014, they again started accepting cards. The same goes for the Japan Post with certain Maestro cards. The lesson here is to find out if your card will be accepted before you travel.
- Some ATMs in Japan still close early, and if you think you’ll need cash for that night or the next day, get it early, or you may be yearning for the yen for a while.
- The Japan Post has a limit of 200,000 yen (about $ 2,000) for each withdrawal, due to previous cases of fraud and people using stolen cards.
- Generally, you cannot check your account balance from ATMs in Japan.
- The Japan Post and 7-Eleven ATMs offer menu options in English, but in case you want instructions on using the 7-Eleven machines, click here. Just remember that the amount you are withdrawing in yen will seem larger than it is because of all those zeros. An easy way to quickly estimate the amount is to remove the last two zeros as you would if you were looking at $ 1.00. So 3,000 yen in dollars would be roughly 30.
- Call your bank and let them know that you will be traveling to Japan before you leave or they might think your card was stolen and block your account.
If you want to get an idea of ATM locations that (technically) accept specific cards, check here for Visa users, here for MasterCard holders, for American Express.
Finally, to avoid running out of yen, consider exchanging dollars, or whatever currency your country uses, for yen after you arrive at the airport. While you can do this at banks, it can be time consuming and will require filling out a form that will likely require some knowledge of Japanese, especially if you are not in a place with many foreign tourists.
Your credit card will go some distance in major shopping malls, but many places in Japan, especially small shops and restaurants further away from big cities, are still cash only. It is always good to have cash on hand, as Japan can be an expensive place to visit. But fortunately it is also a very safe place in terms of pickpockets and robbers, relative to Europe and the US, so carrying a certain amount of cash generally carries little risk.
