The Basic Japan Travel Tip, How To Withdraw Money From ATM

If you have been dreaming of Japan trip, you may have heard about

Japan is one of the countries where the usage credit card rate is low.

Well, it is kind of true but I would say it is almost not anymore when you travel to major sightseeing cities and major stores.

In my experiences, yes, my husband and I had troubles to use INTERNATIONAL credit cards many many times, even the many stores and taxies didn’t accept credit card payments 6, 7 years ago when we lived in Nagoya, Japan.

HOWEVER, in these 3 years or so, I don’t have problems using INTERNATIONAL credit cards and more places have been increased to accept credit cards.

OK places,

Convenience stores
Drug stores
Major grocery stores
Department stores
Company-runTaxis
Most of the Restaurants, Izakayas, cafes
Shopping retailers in Shopping malls
Homecenter
JR ticket offices

Not OK places,

100 yen stores except for major DAISO stores
Private-own retailers
Local small shops
Local grocery stores (even major grocery stores)
Privately-owned Clinics, hospitals, pharmacies
Ticket vending machines, and vending machines
Ryokans (not all)

As you see, there is a high possibility that you can’t pay with a credit card in private-own stores, local stores in small towns, and 100 yen stores.

In short, you need to bring a certain amount of cash with you during traveling in Japan.

One smart way is exchanging money before you leave for Japan, but I think it is not concerning to do so because you can withdraw money at first at the arriving airport.

International airports such as Haneda, Narita, Chubu Centrair (Nagoya), KIX (Osaka), and Fukuoka, Chitose (Sapporo), it shouldn’t have any problem to exchange or withdraw money.

The easiest way is just withdrawing Japanese currency at the arriving airport.

(because English sign is everywhere.)

However, you may want to know where you can withdraw money in town after leaving airports, I can tell you 2 places where you will not have transaction problems in English.

index

Important as first
Seven-Eleven Convenience Store
Japan Post Bank
Conclusion

Important as first

Tell your bank and credit card company your traveling plans.

It is a very important step to be able to withdraw money via ATM in Japan.

Banks do the best whatever they can to protect your account from spoofing.

When a transaction is found in a strange location, the bank may close it immediately.

Especially if you travel in different countries included connection flights and use a credit card in each country shortly, the bank may close transactions from your account.

My husband has often this case in many years when he forgets notify banks,

it is pain sometimes he couldn’t contact the bank due to the time difference.

To avoid the worst situation,

Notify the bank about your trip before traveling.

Seven-Eleven Convenience Store

7-Eleven Convenience stores are highly recommended to use ATMs in Japan.

Since it is the lead convenience store has branch stores throughout Japan, you have less trouble to find one near you.

Not only convenience stores, “Seven Bank ATM” is located in some shopping malls, train stations, and airports.

Enter the store and find an ATM called “Seven Bank”. You can see a red-signed ATM mostly the corner in the store.

Probably the cards issued in your country are available at 7-Eleven including Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, UnionPay, American Express, JCB, Discover, and Diners Club.

Most 7-Eleven stores are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and ATMs are open almost all day.

VISA	00:00 – 24:00
Mastercard	00:10 – 23:50
UnionPay	00:10 – 23:50
American Express	00:05 – 23:50
JCB	00:10 – 23:50
Discover	00:10 – 23:50
Diners Club	00:05 – 23:55

Steps

Insert your card
Choose your language {English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Korean, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, French, German, Portuguese are available}
Touch “Withdrawal” button
Choose transaction account (credit, saving, checking)
Enter PIN cord and press “enter”
Choose the amount of money shown on the monitor
Take the money out and the receipt

Notes

For cards issued overseas, the limit for each withdrawal is 100,000 yen.
The limit for magnetic stripe card transactions is 30,000 yen.
The transaction fee will be charged for each transaction.
If an incorrect PIN error happens, you need to contact the company that issued the card.
ATMs may not be available due to system maintenance.

Honestly, we never use ATMs in other convenience stores such as “Family mart” and “Lawson”, but it will be enough to know you can withdraw money without any transaction problem at 7-eleven.

7 Bank ATM Location

Japan Post Bank

JP/ a short name of “Japan Post”
銀行ATM/bank ATM
ゆうちょ銀行/ Japan Post Bank

“Japan Post Bank” commonly called “Yucho”(ゆうちょ銀行) in Japan, is also another spot that you can withdraw money with international credit cards in English.

As its name, the Japanese national mail service company runs the banking service so you can find ATM machines inside post offices.

There are over 27,000 post offices throughout the country. VISA, Visaelectron, Plus, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, American Express, JCB, China Unionpay, and Discover are available at ATM in Japan Post offices.

The ATM opening hours depend on each post office, it is hard to mention on this site but general opening hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on weekdays.

To use ATM, almost same step with “Seven Bank” ATM,

I am sorry I am not sure, but I believe you need to select the language (English) before inserting your card.

You can find the English select button easily on the right side bottom.

The withdrawal limit per transaction is 50,000 yen, and also they charge the ATM service fee and your credit card international transaction fee.