Money in Japan

If you've never been to Japan, then you need to know that CASH IS KING.

Yes, there are places that take credit card but cash is still predominantly used throughout Japan. From buying SUICA to eating at a small restaurant, cash is still the only option you have at certain places.

That being said, my suggestion is this. 

Bring a small amount of money to exchange at the airport. The exchange rate at the airport was actually what I thought the exchange rate was at the moment (I don't remember what the rate was at Narita but the actual exchange rate when I arrived was 135 yen to $1 USD). And they didn't charge me any fee for exchanging so I was a bit confused if I missed something. Even if it was slightly under the current rate (ex. Narita was 130 yen to usd versus the actual 135 yen to usd), I don't think that the fee was anymore than 0.037% of what I exchanged. The only thing was that it took a while but mostly from people who weren't paying attention and not filling their form out correctly.

I say this because you need cash. I purchased a SUICA card for myself and my husband, and those machines only took cash. 

Get a SUICA card (or another IC card). Not only are they great for trains, many places that don't take credit card still take SUICA or another form of IC card. We used this a lot for things like vending machines or taxis. Just make sure to look for the IC card logo to see if it's accepted.

But as I said, you can only fill up the SUICA card with cash.

Note: There is a WELCOME SUICA card that tourists can get. Just know that you CANNOT get a refund of the remaining balance on these Welcome SUICA cards. Regular SUICA cards can be refunded at Narita but you would need to go to the specific line if you bought it at Haneda airport (Tokyo Monorail).

Androids cannot add SUICA on their phone unless their phone was purchased in Japan. Apple phones can add a SUICA card. For Android users like me, I was able to put it in my phone case and it worked great!


Bring your ATM card to withdraw cash. But don't make the mistake that I did! I was taking cash out when I needed it but only taking out 10,000 yen. I should have just made a half-trip withdrawal for more money because each transaction cost me $5 USD every time. 

If you can, make sure your credit card has the chip reader. My husband has the old chip card that can't be touchless so it was a pain waiting for him to have to insert his card. 

Get a coin purse (or make sure your wallet have a good sized coin pocket!) Japan uses a lot of coins! And if you are looking for gachapons, even more reason to hang onto them. Things like hotel laundry and some coin lockers also require 100 yen coins so hang onto those!


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