Credit Cards in Japan - Visa vs. Mastercard

[B Gallagher]

Hey all,
I'm just applying for a credit card, and will be travelling to Japan in a few month's time. I was just wondering, if I'm going to Japan, and I better off with a Visa or a Mastercard?

Cheers,

[Tsuru]

[Samurai_Jerk]

Hey all,
I'm just applying for a credit card, and will be travelling to Japan in a few month's time. I was just wondering, if I'm going to Japan, and I better off with a Visa or a Mastercard?

Cheers,

[FG Lurker]

Visa, MC... It doesn't really matter in Japan. I've never seen a shop in Japan that will take Visa but will not take MC, or one that will take MC but not Visa. Visa is more common here as a card I think, but really it makes no difference.

The problem is that many, many, MANY shops here will not take any credit card. Especially smaller shops that sell gifts etc in areas you may travel, but also more "normal" shops and even smaller hotels etc still work on a cash-only basis. They won't take Traveler's Cheques either. If you do bring Traveler's Cheques (TC) ONLY bring Yen (best) or US$. Don't bring Euro or anything else because cashing them will be a nightmare involving trips to special banks. Generally speaking you will have to visit a bank to cash a TC anyway but if it is not Yen or US$ you will be heading to a major branch to cash it. Some smaller branches won't even cash US$ so really Yen is best.

Japan's a great place, but the banking system here is stuck about 100years in the past.

[B Gallagher]

Hey all,
I'm just applying for a credit card, and will be travelling to Japan in a few month's time. I was just wondering, if I'm going to Japan, and I better off with a Visa or a Mastercard?

Cheers,

[emperor]

Hey all,
I'm just applying for a credit card, and will be travelling to Japan in a few month's time. I was just wondering, if I'm going to Japan, and I better off with a Visa or a Mastercard?

Cheers,

its a cash-country ... i think thats why hes laughing.


I used mastercard during my year in tokyo (mostly for withdrawals at citibank atms from my a/c in ireland eventhough i set up an a/c with sumitomo) - i think Visa is the more widely used; but thats Japanese Visa.

quite a few shops will only take native japanese cr cards

just use cash

[spyder]

Bring cash/travellers cheques mate. Definitly a cash country! Even at big stores like Yamada-denki, my VISA card has to be manually phoned through!

-Scott

[Charles]

Bring cash/travellers cheques mate. Definitly a cash country! Even at big stores like Yamada-denki, my VISA card has to be manually phoned through!

-Scott

Travelers checks are totally useless, if you want to use them, you're basically going to have to go to a bank. Travelers checks are accepted fewer places than credit cards.

I never had any trouble using my VISA card anywhere that accepted credit cards, even at dinky little shops, as long as they were used to doing high-value transactions (like electronics shops). Just don't expect to use credit cards at the local izakaya.

[Samurai_Jerk]

And remember that going to the bank to change traveller's checks in Japan is like a 45 minute process. It ain't like HK or Thailand where you can just walk up to a window and get everthing taken care of instantly. It really takes a long time if you change a big stack because they will check every single one so make sure the signature is OK.

[Greji]

Also, unless it has changed drastically in the very immediate past, most ATMs in Japan will not allow you to draw money against any foreign card. We have had that problem on numerous occasions with visting guests from overseas. You really have to search for one that will accept one.

[FG Lurker]

Large (and expensive) international hotels are the best places to look for bank machines that will allow cash advances against international credit cards.

[Charles]

Also, unless it has changed drastically in the very immediate past, most ATMs in Japan will not allow you to draw money against any foreign card. We have had that problem on numerous occasions with visting guests from overseas. You really have to search for one that will accept one.

Yes, things have changed in the recent past. On my last trip over, I was surprised to see that the Post Office is upgrading all its ATMs to allow cash withdrawls from foreign credit cards. They even have English menus available on the ATMs. Of course as soon as I started depending on this, I found myself in desperate need of cash out in the inaka at a yuubinkyoku with an old ATM that hadn't been upgraded. But most of the post office ATMs in big cities have been upgraded.
The ATM situation is a stupid thing. From what I have been able to gather, Japanese banks deliberately put the mag stripe on their credit cards in a different spot than foreign cards, so Japanese cards only work in Japanese ATMS, and foreign cards don't work in Japanese ATMs. Only Japan uses this unique mag stripe system, everyone else uses the same system. Why the hell they would do something like this, I have no idea.

[FG Lurker]

This is only true for bank ATM cards. Japanese bank cards have the magnetic strip on the front of the card above the card's number.

Credit cards (I have a Japan-issued AMEX, and two different Japan-issued VISAs, along with a Canadian VISA) are the same in Japan as elsewhere.

[Kuang_Grade]

My advice would be
1) be sure to tell your bank/CC company that you're going to be using your cards in Japan..it might make a difference (or not, Amex told me that "I'll add this info to your file but the process is automated and if the program thinks something is fishy, it's going to say no regardless of what info is in your file")

2) take several different ones (if you have them) and rotate your purchases among them. I found that some card companies freaked out (ie, not letting the transaction go through) when I made too many purchases in one day (regardless of the charge amount, it would say no after the 2nd charge in 24 hours) while others would freak out when I tried to buy more than X amount of stuff in a given day. When buying alot of things in one day, I just made sure to not to keep using the same card.

Travelers checks can be a pain if you're a long term resident, or out in the countryside but if you're staying in a good sized hotel in a major city, it shouldn't be a problem. Every hotel (mostly Tokyu properties) I've stayed in Tokyo has let me exchange them into yen (although some offered not the greatest exchange rate). And I don't know what the credit card fees non-US folks get hit with for foreign transactions, but I do know that my cards used to charge 1 or 2% but now they are going to be charging 3 or 4% for non US transactions...and now I'm likely to be using my credit cards a whole lot less and cash a whole lot more on my future trips in Japan.

[Samurai_Jerk]

And I don't know what the credit card fees non-US folks get hit with for foreign transactions, but I do know that my cards used to charge 1 or 2% but now they are going to be charging 3 or 4% for non US transactions...and now I'm likely to be using my credit cards a whole lot less and cash a whole lot more on my future trips in Japan.

Interesting. I haven't used my credit card abroad in years (except for a trip up to Canada) and I always found that using a credit card was best because the exchange rates were much better. And I never got charged a fee. Maybe it's an Amex thing.

[jingai]

I believe the big credit card companies started charing a 1% transaction fee and that your own provider may levy charges on top of that. For me it is a 1% surcharge but I also get 1% back on all my purchases, so credit is still the cheapest way to go.

[Kuang_Grade]

This USA Toady piece goes into what I was referring to

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-04-21-card-fees_x.htm

Starting this month, Visa replaced its 1% charge for changing foreign currencies into dollars with a 1% "transaction fee" that applies to all purchases in another country, regardless of whether the sale is completed in dollars or in a local currency. MasterCard charges 1% for foreign currency transactions and nothing if the international purchase is made in dollars, but it has announced a similar fee change effective Oct. 1.

Both association's fees are imposed on the issuing banks, not consumers, though banks typically pass them along.

In the past, those fees were simply absorbed into the final price shown on consumers' monthly statements. But after complaints from consumer advocates and a string of lawsuits charging that the practice was deceptive, more credit card issuers are breaking out the fees as separate line items on monthly statements.

Several card issuers, most notably Diners Club and MBNA America, are increasing fees, as well. Diners Club charges personal cardholders 3% on foreign purchases, up from 2%. (Corporate customers still pay 2%.) Starting May 25, consumers will pay 3% when using an MBNA-issued card abroad, up from 1%.

In the past, the CC companies folded these fees into the amount you were charged so you really didn't see them....Now they are going to be much more transparent about it (I think Amex got hit with a class action suit over the "non-discloure" of these additional fees). On my last credit card bill, a charge for an item I ordered from Japan came with a second line that detailed the yen amount of the purchase, the converted dollar amount and then the transaction fee they tacked on top of that.

[ichigo partygirl]

Yeap im with visa and when i went to Auz last year for my holiday i used my visa. The statement shows the amount in australian dollars, the rate of conversion, the transaction fee of 1% charged by visa, and the transaction fee of about 1.2% charged by my bank, and finally the total amount in NZ dollars.

As for visa vs mastercard in japan it is better to have plenty of cash on you as heaps of places dont do credit cards. But i used Visa last time and where there was credit avaliable i was able to use Visa everytime. Also i used bank atms in airports and a couple of big hotels to withdraw money. However there was a fee of about $25 NZ dollars for everytime i withdrew cash reguardless wheither i was in credit or not.

[Samurai_Jerk]

This USA Toady piece goes into what I was referring to

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-04-21-card-fees_x.htm

Starting this month, Visa replaced its 1% charge for changing foreign currencies into dollars with a 1% "transaction fee" that applies to all purchases in another country, regardless of whether the sale is completed in dollars or in a local currency. MasterCard charges 1% for foreign currency transactions and nothing if the international purchase is made in dollars, but it has announced a similar fee change effective Oct. 1.

Both association's fees are imposed on the issuing banks, not consumers, though banks typically pass them along.

In the past, those fees were simply absorbed into the final price shown on consumers' monthly statements. But after complaints from consumer advocates and a string of lawsuits charging that the practice was deceptive, more credit card issuers are breaking out the fees as separate line items on monthly statements.

Several card issuers, most notably Diners Club and MBNA America, are increasing fees, as well. Diners Club charges personal cardholders 3% on foreign purchases, up from 2%. (Corporate customers still pay 2%.) Starting May 25, consumers will pay 3% when using an MBNA-issued card abroad, up from 1%.

In the past, the CC companies folded these fees into the amount you were charged so you really didn't see them....Now they are going to be much more transparent about it (I think Amex got hit with a class action suit over the "non-discloure" of these additional fees). On my last credit card bill, a charge for an item I ordered from Japan came with a second line that detailed the yen amount of the purchase, the converted dollar amount and then the transaction fee they tacked on top of that.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I actually got something in the mail a couple of years ago asking me to join the suit. Even with the fees though, I've found that I get the best rate using a credit card. When I used my Visa debit card in Canada there were not extra fees listed. They probably treat charges made in Canada as domestic though.

[james]

i'm out here in inakaland, shimane and when my parents came for a visit last september, they were able to withdraw money from their canadian account using a post office atm. i believe they used a regular bank card (not a credit card) and withdrawals could be made in demoniations of 10,000 yen.

[devicenull]

I love my Amex, I will leave it at that.

[Kuang_Grade]

[IkemenTommy]

I never use it, but I carry a MC anyway.

There's all that hype for the denshi e(lectronic)-money (suica, Edy, etc) in Jpn but I have yet to see people use it regularly. I am sure there is still huge security issues that need to be worked out.

So as for now, we all have to live with the good ol' ca$h.