Money Question

[DaiOni]

"24 hour ATM access is now commonly available at most of the convenient stores."

dependant on where you are - though for 95% of travellers, it won't be an issue (not many of you would venture out of the cities).

credit card use is definitely still hit and miss, but getting better. Foreign credit card use is more of a hassle - but I can vouch that autobacs don't have any issues with it. Credit card usage is a little different in japan - at least in my experience, it is. With my japanese visa, they always ask 'nankai' (how many times) - it seems to be more of a pseudo-eftpos than a credit card. If you ask for a single debit - they will take the money out in one hit. If you want it spread over four debits, they will take 1/4 each month (and, I assume, add appropriate interest on top). They've asked if I want to do this with my foreign card as well - not sure if that would work or not! (I'm guessing, no) - but I always go the single, anyway.

If they ask you 'nankai' - just say: one

It's nice to live in a country where you can comfortably have a grand or so in your wallet and walk down the street without fear - but that doesn't remove the risk of losing your wallet It goes without saying, but, be careful

[DaiOni]

oh, and another place you should be able to draw money from visa (perhaps also cirrus, etc) - the post office (at least, the bigger ones)

[Evo_Lee]

Brian, I always ask for 1 time debt also, saves the hassle of keeping track what you bought. Also not sure on overseas cards but I reckon it may not work as well.

Actually the EFTPOS is available but only a few shops have this or like to do it this way.

---

Overseas CC, yes they will all work. But Diners and AMEX is a hit and miss I find...but larger shops are OK.

Money exchanges like Travellex, don't think I have seen too many of those. Also bank branches in the Suburbs will not do it for both cash and travellers cheques. You will have to do the exchange at Banks in the main city centre.

WHICH IS WHY ALWAYS KNOW WHERE THE CLOSEST 24HOURS CITIBANK ATM IS.

So you don't have to use your CC or carry much money around, just withdraw the funds you need via Maestro or Cirrus...but do bring a CC for emergency use.

[Rezz]

WHICH IS WHY ALWAYS KNOW WHERE THE CLOSEST 24HOURS CITIBANK ATM IS.... ...just withdraw the funds you need via Maestro or Cirrus...but do bring a CC for emergency use.

Yep, this is what I did in my the very first few months I was in Japan. You're kinda hanging around the main areas (where the ATMs are) and constantly thinking about how much you've got on you, but I remember carrying about $3,000 worth of travellers checks with me for the first month or so... I was my own ATM

[Demon Dave]

I'm happy to say I don't have any of the above hassles. Don't have any credit cards. Come to think of it, don't have any debit cards, not even an ATM card!

the missus keeps them and all I get is my pocket money :Oops: Now that I think about it, I think the last time I, personally, withdrew money from my account was 5 years ago...just before I got married.

There might be a moral in there somewhere :D :D

[DaiOni]

the moral? when you marry a japanese woman, they also give you a collar and a leash

haha, like I can talk.......

[Evo_Lee]

Dave, this is Japan and if married woman didn't take charge of the money what would they have to do...further it makes sense, as they have the time to get to the banks during the day. But they are very good in handling the money, while I paid the rent and utilities. When my ex-gf was staying me, we budgeted for 50,000yen a month for groceries and miscellanous expenses and somehow she manages to save an extra 15,000yen every 3 months!

Brian, don't let the mrs pick up too many bad habbits over here mate .

[Demon Dave]

Yeah, I have to admit that I'm happy to have my better half to keep me in check.

Without her I'd probably be down at super autobacs every month, about 10 minutes after getting paid, ready to spend, spend, spend!!

[DaiOni]

"Without her I'd probably be down at super autobacs every month, about 10 minutes after getting paid, ready to spend, spend, spend!!"

ahem.... umm....... yeah....

I've taken on a kids juku to pay for my bad habits.

[omg]

I travel to Japan a fair bit and by far the best thing to do is change your aussie into yen in australia, the ANZ consistantly has the best rates. Generally I plan to use the credit card for hotels and cash for everything else, it's not unusual at all that between a couple of us we'll head over with 15-20k AUD in folding stuff.

The using USD thing isn't as silly as it sounds, it all comes down to how commonly used the currency is and where the balance of trade is so to speak. For example there are a lot more japanese visitors to aus than there are australians going to japan so every bank/currency dealer is sitting on a huge stack of yen which does nothing for them until it's physically (and expensively) shipped back to japan. As a result if you're buying yen in australia you'll pay about a 2% margin whereas if you're selling yen you'll pay around 12%. For USD it's less than 1% each way. Obviously if you're travelling from japan to aus you're _much_ better off bringing USD, not AUD. Going to Japan however you are better going straight to Yen as the rates reflect the surplus of Yen the locals are holding.

Re getting cash on cards, generally we don't bother but the citibanks are definately the best way to go. You can get a list of the citibank atms from the global visa site, it's a good idea to know where a few are (we generally use the ones next to NIssan Gallery in Ginza, in the Tcat terminal and over in shinjuku)

[someonestolecc]

There ya go omg - that sounds right to me - but still it is silly to go AUD>USD>YEN cos in essence the bank is already factoring that for you when you go AUD>YEN.

I've always found to get good rates in the country of the currency but what you're saying about AUD>YEN I've never considered (i've never had the need to buy YEN when going to Japan cos I have it already so I'm always trading the other way round).

I can second though that the ANZ does consistently have better rates also.

With 15-20k in cash on me I think the flight attendants would wonder why I was sleeping with a fork in my hand (that is if they still give out metal forks these days) heh heh.

[omg]

Yep, metal forks, glass bottles and plastic knives

With the cash the biggest concern is explaining to Customs/Immigration in Japan just why we have 1.5mill yen for a two day holiday in Tokyo. The first time I left one mate unsupervised going through customs he ended up in the little sideroom trying to explain just why he was flying from australia to spend 24 hours in Tokyo on a holiday and the only reason he had for his trip was to visit Shinjuku It didn't quite click that the japanese don't care what you're buying/bringing home, they care about what's coming in. He also managed to put valveguides in his carry-on luggage for the trip home, that created some interesting moments when I tried to use sign language demonstrating what they do to the lovely japanese girl at the x ray machine (hint, demonstrate the action of a valve and valve guide with your hands, you'll understand )

[Streeter]

Bwahahaha gold OMG thats some funny sh!t

yeah I bought over a stack of aussie cash and was SEVERELY burnt DONT DO IT!!! change to yen in Aus.

As for the woman controlling the money... dont even start me!!! I must have the only japanese chick that is worse with money than me!! I dont just control my money I have to control hers too!!

[lwells]

At least its better than Russia where most of the time you get asked for US dollars or Euros, and if you are foolish enough to by Roubbles a) no one wants to accept them and B) good luck finding somewhere to change them back

Lucien.

[someonestolecc]

That's it mate roubles are useless