Where and how to withdraw cash with credit, debit and prepaid cards in Japan
last update: April 08, 2019
If you have to withdraw cash with your card in Japan, you can't simply to look for an ATM. Many ATMs, called, the same as in English, "ATM" in japanese, do not work with cards issued abroad.
Fortunately, the situation is changing very quickly, and more and more banks are updating old ATMs to allow them to be used with foreign cards. Finding an ATM that accepts foreign cards is fairly simple nowadays.
Where to withdraw cash, international ATMs in Japan
Summary table
Where it is easy to find an international ATM in Japan
Place
Bank
All major airports
several banks
All post offices, they can be found in every area
Japan Post Bank
A lot of Seven Eleven konbini (thousands across the country)
Seven Bank
Some Family Mart konbini, especially in the cities
E-net
Some Lawson konbini, especially in the cities
Lawson Bank
Other convenience stores, especially in the cities
several
Few bank branches, mainly in large cities
mainly Mizuho Bank, Prestia
Many shopping centers and department stores, in particular the AEON Malls
AEON Bank, other
Details
Seven Bank (7 Bank)
Where to find it: in most of Seven Eleven convenience stores (over 23 thousand scattered throughout the country), in virtually any town there is at least one. Hundreds in the Tokyo area. Sometimes they can also be found in other places, in some large shopping centers and in several airports. Through this web page you can find the nearest Seven Bank ATM..
Accepted cards: Visa, Visa Electron, Visa Plus, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, American Express, JCB, Discover, Diners Club.
Hours: 24 hours a day. Short breaks of a few minutes depending on the card system around midnight.
Withdrawal fee: Zero (however, your bank might charge fees too).
Maximum amount: 100,000¥ (30,000¥ for American Express).
Where to find it: in the 20 thousand post offices scattered throughout Japan. Post offices are very useful especially when you are in rural areas of Japan where there are no other international ATMs. An app is available that helps you locate the closest ATM, available for both android and iphone
Accepted cards: Visa, Visa Electron, Visa Plus, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, American Express, JCB, Discover.
Hours: it depends on the post office. In some central areas of large cities 24 hours a day. Depending on the size and the place where the post office is located, opening hours may vary and sometimes they completely close on weekends.
Withdrawal fee: 216¥ for some cards. Zero for others (however, your bank might charge fees too).
Where to find it: not all branches of Mizuho Bank have international ATMs, but only a few of them. In this web page you can find the list of branches that have ATMs enabled for international cards.
Accepted cards: Visa, Visa Plus, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, JCB, Discover.
Hours: it depends on the branch. In some central areas of large cities 24 hours a day. Depending on the size and the place where the bank is located, opening hours may vary and sometimes they completely close on weekends.
Withdrawal fee: Zero (however, your bank might charge fees too). For some cards the currency conversion service is available, which allows you to be charged in your currency instead of in yen.
Where to find it: mainly in Family Mart convenience stores (but just some of them), but also in other some other convenience stores (Daily Yamazaki, Circle K Sunkus) and some Don Quijote. Through this web page you can easily locate all the ATMs region by region.
Accepted cards: Visa, Visa Electron, Visa Plus, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, JCB.
Hours: 24 hours a day.
Withdrawal fee: it depends on the card system, zero or 108-216¥ (however, your bank might charge fees too)
Maximum amount: 100,000¥.
Available languages:: english, chinese, korean, japanese.
Where to find it: in all the AEON Malls, in some MaxValu supermarkets, some Mini Stop convenience stores, and in other places. Through this web page you can find all the ATMs region by region.
Accepted cards: Visa, Visa Plus, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, JCB, Discover.
Hours: it depends on the opening time of the place where they are located. In convenience stores sometimes 24 hours a day, in supermarkets and shopping centers generally 8-22.
Withdrawal fee: it depends on the card system, 75-216¥ (however, your bank might charge fees too)
Maximum amount: 50,000¥.
Available languages:: italian, english, french, german, portuguese, chinese, korean, japanese.
Where to find it: in all the Prestia branches, a bank belonging to SMBC Trust Bank targeted to foreigners residing in Japan. Most branches are located in Tokyo, very few in other regions. Through this web page you can find all the branches of Prestia.
Accepted cards: Visa, Visa Plus, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, JCB, Discover.
Hours: it depends on the branch. Generally 7-24 in weekdays, they close earlier on weekends and holidays.
Withdrawal fee: 108¥ (however, your bank might charge fees too)
Visa, Visa Plus, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Union Pay, JCB are the most popular card systems in international ATMs in Japan. In some ATMs it is also possible to withdraw with Visa Electron, American Express, Diners Club and Discover. If you come from Europe, be aware that v-pay debit cards do not work in Japan, but only because these cards do not work in any extra-European country.
Even if your card belongs to one of these card schemes, if this is your first time abroad, make sure with your bank that your card is enabled for withdrawals abroad. Sometimes some cards, unless you explicitly request the contrary, are blocked abroad to prevent fraud attempts.
How much does it cost to withdraw with cards in Japan?
When you withdraw abroad in a currency other than your card's currency, you can face three different types of costs:
Costs charged by the local bank used to withdraw cash: some Japanese banks have no fees, others a small fee of around 100-200¥. The fee amount also depends on the type of card;
Costs charged by your bank: many banks have a fixed and/or percentage fee when withdrawing abroad. Check the contract of your card or ask your bank to find it out.
Exchange rate: the amount of foreign currency withdrawn will be converted into your card's currency, and the exchange rate used is never the official one. Generally the card scheme system (eg Mastercard) charges a small surcharge (0.5-1%), but some banks also apply an additional spread to the exchange rate.
Adding up these three costs you realize by yourself that even a withdrawal can be quite expensive if you have a card with particularly unfavorable conditions.
Guided tours, activities and other things to do
If you are planning a trip to Japan and you want to do something more than just visiting famous places and monuments, we suggest you to use Rakuten Travel Experiences.
How to use Rakuten Travel Experiences
Rakuten Travel is a very useful website to enrich your travel experience, especially if you are going solo or it's your first time in Japan.
Because of the language barrier (and more), in Japan it is very difficult to interact with the locals and to get off the tourist track.
Thanks to Rakuten Travel you can find a lot of interesting and sometimes unique guided tours and activities all over Japan (and not only in Japan), that you would otherwise never be able to enjoy.
But there's more: on Rakuten Travel you can also buy tickets for several famous attractions, events, transportation and other useful services for tourists. Last but not least, you can reserve a table in hundreds of restaurants.
You can reserve your table in a lot of cafes and restaurants, for example one of the legendary 3-star Michelin restaurants in Japan, or crazy cafes like a unique Owl Cafe in Tokyo or one of the many and nowadays worldwide famous maid cafes
