Cash, Cards & IC Cards in Japan: What Worked for Us

For our three weeks in Japan, we used a mix of cash, credit cards and IC cards. We brought some yen from Canada, withdrew more when we needed it, and otherwise used our cards without any trouble.

Bring Some Yen for Your Arrival

I wanted to arrive in Japan with cash mainly because we needed it for our IC cards.

We waited a little too long to get our yen in Canada, and the currency exchange office didn’t have as much available as I wanted. Next time, I would get it a few weeks before the trip.

It didn’t cause us any problems, though. We had enough to get started, and that was really all we needed.

Convenience Store ATMs Made Things Easy

Whenever we needed more yen, I withdrew it from an ATM at a convenience store.

Very convenient. Literally.

Since convenience stores are everywhere in the major cities we visited, finding an ATM was never a problem. I usually kept around ¥20,000 with me for the three of us.

The card I used had no foreign-exchange fees and reimbursed the ATM fees as well. Not every card offers the same benefits, so it’s worth checking what your bank or card provider will charge before travelling.

For us, withdrawing yen along the way made much more sense than carrying our entire travel budget in cash.

Our IC Cards Were for More Than Transportation

We used our IC cards every day for trains, metros and buses, which meant topping them up regularly.

Kid 2 also used hers for small purchases.

She could walk down to the nearest convenience store, pick up an ice cream or one of the smoothies she liked, and pay with her IC card. Somehow, hers always needed topping up more frequently than ours.

Funny how that happened.

Then there were the vending machines. They really are everywhere in Japan, including train stations. While we were waiting for the Shinkansen, Kid 2 used one to get herself a drink. Many vending machines accept IC cards, so she didn’t even have to dig around for coins.

For a kid, the IC card was especially useful because she could make these little purchases on her own without needing to carry much cash.

Credit Cards Worked Fine for Us

We used our Canadian credit cards regularly in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo and didn’t have any problems.

Our experience was limited to major cities, so I would still keep cash available, especially if travelling to smaller towns or shopping at small businesses. But for our itinerary, we certainly didn’t need to pay for everything in cash.

The Best Use for All Those Coins

And then there were the gashapon.

Suddenly, having a pocket full of ¥100 coins wasn’t a problem at all.

Most of the gashapon the girls wanted were ¥200, while some of the especially cute ones cost ¥300. Some gashapon areas also had machines for changing bills into coins.

We became quite good at converting our spare change into tiny capsules.

By the end of the trip, leftover ¥100 coins weren’t exactly something we had to worry about.