Stranded in Japan
There is an interesting post at The Consumerist about an American couple who were stranded in Tokyo after they were unable to get any cash, or use, their Bank of America debit card.
Before leaving for his honeymoon, Derek called Bank of America to make sure he could rely on his debit card while he was in Japan. Bank of America assured him that he would have no problem accessing money. Yet on the third day of his honeymoon, neither he nor his wife could draw cash from their cards, stranding them with only $15 in cash.
He writes:
….
On the third day of the trip, we went to Akihabara to make some video game purchases. I found the only Wii system we saw the entire time we were on the trip and tried to buy it. My card was declined, which was incredibly embarrassing and difficult to deal with because of the language barrier. My wife tried her card and it went through, thankfully. The next shop we came to had something she wanted to purchase, at which point her card was declined. She paid with the cash she had left over, leaving both of us with about the equivalent of $15 total in cash.
You can read the rest of the story Bank Of America Stranded Me In Japan Without Cash On My Honeymoon here.
Quite a sad story especially seeing as it was their honeymoon (I wonder how many people come to Japan on their honeymoons?). Japan’s banking system is still quite behind the times (and I know that wasn’t the problem here - it was suspicious activity outside the normal usage of their debit card) and even supposing their cards did work there are still a lot of places in Japan that don’t take credit or debit cards. And if you get outside of the main centers it is even harder to find places that take these cards.
This is a photo of the hours of a Japan Post ATM right bang smack in the middle of Tokyo
In the country side, ATM’s often close at 5pm - weekdays! and are also closed over public holidays, and convenience stores don’t always have ATM’s - so you will need to carry enough cash to carry you over 3 days. It is pretty safe to carry that amount around, as long as you stay out of dodgy bars in red light districts you shouldn’t have any problems.
I remember one time when I was living in Akita and there was a festival in our little town. The festival was held down the main street with lots of little stalls and people fishing for gold fish and doing all those things that people do at festivals. It was quite a large crowd, larger than I would have expected given the population of the town I lived in. Anyway, I was a little short of cash, so I went to my bank, who had a branch on the main street and lo! the ATM was closed - closed because of the festival. The reason I was given was that there were too many people for them to be able to guarantee perfect service - so rather than disappoint someone, the closed down the ATM.
Point of story - if you are travelling to Japan (or anywhere for that matter!) bring enough cash to carry you over for a couple of days. Divide your money up so that if some gets stolen you still have some. And smile:) sometimes there ain’t nothing you can do about banks.
7 Comments, Comment or Ping
Bryan
Too bad no one was able to tell that couple about Shinsei Bank or Citibank ATMs. It would have saved them a lot of trouble.
The financial system is holding this country back in so many ways. If technology and the banking system were tied together I suspect we’d see some interesting developments. How rediculous is it that you can buy things with your phone, but you have to keep “re-charging” your account rather than directly hooking up with your credit line and taking care of the hassle for you. You can watch TV on your phone but you can’t use a credit card at over half of the businesses you visit…simply amazing.
Mar 3rd, 2008
psymeg
it is strange isn’t it. and they have so many systems for paying too - suica, or pasmo or mobile phone or eddy or what not…
new zealand as nice in that you have one system - eftpos - and you can use it just about anywhere. going out on the town all you have to take is some proof of age, such as a drivers license, and a debit card. easy as!
i imagine osaka has its own systems too?
Mar 3rd, 2008
elliott
The best credit card advice for anyone travelling here is actually supplied by the photo… The Japanese Post Office is probably your best port of call to withdraw funds kept in offshore accounts. They accept Visa, MasterCard and a whole bunch of others. Problem is, as the photo suggests, the ATMs aren’t usually open outside of Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm. Budget accordingly…
Mar 4th, 2008
elliott
And by that I mean ATMs that are usually found next to Japanese Post Offices…
Mar 4th, 2008
psymeg
thanks e for pointing that out! when i came here for the first time i brought travellers cheques with me. i changed them in tokyo which was probably a good thing, as changing them in akita would have been quite a mission i imagine, especially given the town i was in.
with the trains here, they have an honour book - so if you lose your wallet you can still get home, it is not advertised but it is there if one is ever stuck. i wonder if there are any other services like that other companies offer for people in a pinch?
Mar 4th, 2008
Bryan
It used to be that JR East Suica and JR West Suica were separate and you could not use one card on the other. However, since Suica plays nice with Pasmo now, I would hope they have it all sorted out now.
Mar 4th, 2008
David
Or 7-11 ATMs for that matter which are open at ALL times, and you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting. They work with most American ATM cards as of this previous Summer. I was there before, and when the switch happened. It made getting money FAR easier the 2nd half of my trip. More than likely their problem was rooted in that they didn’t call their respective banks to let them know they’d be in Japan. It’s a fairly normal thing to do in order to keep fraud from going on. Kinda lame these people had a honeymoon in Japan yet not being smart enough to know enough of the language to get through such a situation. Only so much can be expected of the “average” otaku that goto Japan I guess. Lesson to learn from this kids, call your bank to let them know when you’ll be outside the country (exact dates with specific countries, even Mexico & Canada), and Japan is a cash based society. This is NOT a country of people who look for the fastest way possible to get themselves into debt (credit cards). Theres some cash card stuff there (card, and cellphone based), but they aren’t practical unless you live there. Oh, and checks are downright frowned upon, if not completely rejected. Always remember to carry a few hundred bucks on you. If you don’t, well I can’t say I have any sympathy for you.
Mar 7th, 2008
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