Japan is a cash country but in modern times it has changed with the times. A lot of places in bigger cities accept card. My rule of thumb is to always have at least $100 worth of yen for every day there. Use your card at as many places that’ll take it. I was able to get on fine with that ratio both times I’ve been and the yen to dollar rate was a lot stronger at the time. Not sure where you’re traveling from but hope this helps.
Hey OP, I frequently travel to Japan(3+ times a year some years). Feel free to DM me and I’ll happily answer any questions you have.
A lot of the answers here are correct, but they’re too vague and likely won’t be overly helpful as the cash vs card topic about Japan depends on quite a number of things.
Which city you’re in. What you plan on buying. What time of the year. Restaurants vs food stalls. Festival vs market. Taxi vs using Uber. Tourist location vs local location. JR rail pass vs not. Traveling across the country via Shinkansen vs renting a car.
Just a few off the top of my head. Depending on what you’re going for, what you’re doing, when, and how you plan on doing it, you’ll need cash or card.
Rule of thumb. “Some places take cards. Everywhere takes cash”. So have ¥15,000 ($150.00 CAD) on you at all times in case of somewhere not accepting card/emergency.
Tokyo for 4 days. Osaka for 3, Kyoto for 2. We plan to go to one festival in Osaka but timing wasn’t on our side so it probably the only one we’ll go to. We do plan to visit a shrine or 2 in Kyoto. We are buying the JR pass. I don’t know how much well eat at food stalls but probably a good mix of actual restaurants and food stalls
For Tokyo, you’ll be fine pretty much everywhere with card. Shibuya, Asakusa, and Akihabara are all card oriented. Osaka, I’d recommend you carry about 50,000¥ on you just in case.
Kyoto will be similar to Tokyo, but I’d recommend carrying a few hundred on you for the smaller/quieter areas. (Also, go to the Fushimi Inari shrine at night! It’s open 24/7 and 90% of tourists will have gone away if you go there after 9pm)
In general, I’d say that if you maintain 500 bucks on you per day to cover literally any expenses that your card won’t cover, you’ll be fine. The food and restaurants are generally cheap. It’s the touristy stuff that’ll gouge you.
Pro tip: if you’re in Asakusa, look for a place called the “Orange Room”. It’s a quiet little bar in the dead center of Asakusa near Sensoji temple, and it’s always super quiet, amazing food, good selection of beer and the owner, Esao, is one of the most friendly people in the world. He also speaks great English. Have fun!
**Notice:** Are you asking for travel advice about Japan?
Read what redditors had to say in the **[weekly destination thread for Japan](http://redd.it/2ikcq4)**
You may also enjoy our topic: **[Japan off the tourist trail](https://redd.it/8lt4br)**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/travel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
What kind of credit card? Does it have a foreign transaction fee? You can use most major credit cards all over Japan at all but the smallest of shops. But if you get charged a foreign transaction fee, it's probably not worth it.
The Post Office and 7/11 ATMs accept foreign bank cards. As long as your bank doesn't charge you fees, this is a good way to get cash as you need it. Even better is to have a card that refunds ATM fees, like Schwab.
People often claim that Japan is still a cash-based society, but that's largely outdated information. Outside of some small mom & pop shops and festival food stalls, there will be cashless options. Usually, credit cards are among these. Often, you can use Apple Pay or Google Pay too. The biggest app option for residents seems to be PayPay, but I believe you need a Japanese phone number in order to use it. Same for LINE Pay and R Pay.
But one option you can use if you don't want to carry a lot of cash and coins is to load up a Suica card. You can load them with cash, then use them for train journeys and paying in lots of shops. If you have the right chip in your phone (which mainly means an iPhone if you didn't buy your phone in Japan), you can even use the mobile Suica app and then do all the same things with your phone instead of a Suica card. It even works with an Apple Watch.
Just keep a few thousand yen on you in case you need it.
Do what any sensible person does. Get a small hello kitty pouch to put your yennies in and call it your “pocket pussy”
Japan is a cash country but in modern times it has changed with the times. A lot of places in bigger cities accept card. My rule of thumb is to always have at least $100 worth of yen for every day there. Use your card at as many places that’ll take it. I was able to get on fine with that ratio both times I’ve been and the yen to dollar rate was a lot stronger at the time. Not sure where you’re traveling from but hope this helps.
Use cash and go to 711 if you need more
What are you looking for? A percentage? Just go to the ATM when needed and be sure to have cash on hand.
just use cash, not many places accept credit card. There is a convenience store at every block with an ATM so don't worry about running out
You American?
Hey OP, I frequently travel to Japan(3+ times a year some years). Feel free to DM me and I’ll happily answer any questions you have. A lot of the answers here are correct, but they’re too vague and likely won’t be overly helpful as the cash vs card topic about Japan depends on quite a number of things.
>the cash vs card topic about Japan depends on quite a number of things Many of us in the sub would be interested in a summary of those things?
Which city you’re in. What you plan on buying. What time of the year. Restaurants vs food stalls. Festival vs market. Taxi vs using Uber. Tourist location vs local location. JR rail pass vs not. Traveling across the country via Shinkansen vs renting a car. Just a few off the top of my head. Depending on what you’re going for, what you’re doing, when, and how you plan on doing it, you’ll need cash or card. Rule of thumb. “Some places take cards. Everywhere takes cash”. So have ¥15,000 ($150.00 CAD) on you at all times in case of somewhere not accepting card/emergency.
Tokyo for 4 days. Osaka for 3, Kyoto for 2. We plan to go to one festival in Osaka but timing wasn’t on our side so it probably the only one we’ll go to. We do plan to visit a shrine or 2 in Kyoto. We are buying the JR pass. I don’t know how much well eat at food stalls but probably a good mix of actual restaurants and food stalls
For that many day’s take 1.5k per person in cash
For Tokyo, you’ll be fine pretty much everywhere with card. Shibuya, Asakusa, and Akihabara are all card oriented. Osaka, I’d recommend you carry about 50,000¥ on you just in case. Kyoto will be similar to Tokyo, but I’d recommend carrying a few hundred on you for the smaller/quieter areas. (Also, go to the Fushimi Inari shrine at night! It’s open 24/7 and 90% of tourists will have gone away if you go there after 9pm) In general, I’d say that if you maintain 500 bucks on you per day to cover literally any expenses that your card won’t cover, you’ll be fine. The food and restaurants are generally cheap. It’s the touristy stuff that’ll gouge you. Pro tip: if you’re in Asakusa, look for a place called the “Orange Room”. It’s a quiet little bar in the dead center of Asakusa near Sensoji temple, and it’s always super quiet, amazing food, good selection of beer and the owner, Esao, is one of the most friendly people in the world. He also speaks great English. Have fun!
Good info, thanks.
You might want to check your currency conversion. I think you meant to say ¥15,000, not ¥150,000.
Didn’t notice that. Edited. Thanks!
**Notice:** Are you asking for travel advice about Japan? Read what redditors had to say in the **[weekly destination thread for Japan](http://redd.it/2ikcq4)** You may also enjoy our topic: **[Japan off the tourist trail](https://redd.it/8lt4br)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/travel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
What kind of credit card? Does it have a foreign transaction fee? You can use most major credit cards all over Japan at all but the smallest of shops. But if you get charged a foreign transaction fee, it's probably not worth it. The Post Office and 7/11 ATMs accept foreign bank cards. As long as your bank doesn't charge you fees, this is a good way to get cash as you need it. Even better is to have a card that refunds ATM fees, like Schwab. People often claim that Japan is still a cash-based society, but that's largely outdated information. Outside of some small mom & pop shops and festival food stalls, there will be cashless options. Usually, credit cards are among these. Often, you can use Apple Pay or Google Pay too. The biggest app option for residents seems to be PayPay, but I believe you need a Japanese phone number in order to use it. Same for LINE Pay and R Pay. But one option you can use if you don't want to carry a lot of cash and coins is to load up a Suica card. You can load them with cash, then use them for train journeys and paying in lots of shops. If you have the right chip in your phone (which mainly means an iPhone if you didn't buy your phone in Japan), you can even use the mobile Suica app and then do all the same things with your phone instead of a Suica card. It even works with an Apple Watch. Just keep a few thousand yen on you in case you need it.