Getting cash in Japan. 7-11 ATM Fees

[nutshell]

Hello! We’re heading to Japan soon and have a quick question. I know we can use our Wells Fargo debit card (bank card) to get cash from a 7-11 ATM. I believe Wells Fargo charges a $5 flat fee for foreign ATMs. But how much will 7-11 charge? I keep seeing that 7-11 is FREE, that it doesn’t charge anything, but that seems hard to believe. Please advise. Thank you!

 

[AndyR]

I just looked at our ATM withdrawals from December. We use Capital One, and had no fees at Lawsons or 7-11.

 

[Kwami]

I've never been charged a fee by the 7-11 ATMs in Japan. They really are free!

 

[gelatoni fan]

At least this year, basically every ATM in Japan charged me 110 JPY per 10K JPY withdrawn including 7-11 ATMs using both my Fidelity and Schwab debit cards.

A lot of people mistakenly forget that they paid this fee because it doesn't show up as a separate transaction on a bank statement. I believe a long time ago, 7-11 ATMs were free but are not for a lot of banks anymore. It won't even show up on the screen for some debit cards so you'll need to check the receipt or go to your statement, find the official exchange rate on the day of withdrawal for your card processor (Visa, Mastercard, etc) and then calculate if it was added.

Most Americans should really get either the Fidelity or Schwab debit cards before withdrawing money abroad since they reimburse the ATM fee and don't charge any foreign transaction fees.

 

[Kwami]

I haven't been since 2017, so my information might be outdated. But, at least in 2017, I was not charged any ATM fees at 7-11. Well, not by 7-Bank, anyway. My credit union did charge a small fee for the foreign transaction.

 

[MillauFr]

Do you need any cash in Japan?

 

[Kwami]

Do you need any cash in Japan?

Probably. You might need cash in these situations:

1. At smaller restaurants and shops
2. In some taxis
3. At temples, shrines, and small museums
4. For vending machines

Taxis might all have card readers now. I know that they were trying to get them all updated for the 2020 Olympics, at least in Tokyo.

Outside of the larger cities, you're more likely to need cash.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Do you need any cash in Japan?

Absolutely yes. At least when I was there in 2019, many shops and restaurants were strictly cash only. Chains like Mcdonalds accepted credit cards but local, family owned places did not.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Some big chains don't accept credit card either. While I prefer Sukiya, some Americans like to eat at Yoshinoya of which many branches don't accept credit card. There's also situations where the credit card reader breaks or doesn't want to accept a foreign credit card.

Purchasing and refilling a transportation card will also require cash.

 

[CanucksRock]

I decided to only bring ¥50000 with me .., so will see how it goes. I’m very much a CC user, I never carry cash. So I’ll be using CC as much as I can. Have prepaid for a number of things with CC already, and I did Mobile Suica on my iPhone so I can reload that with Apple Pay (MC).

 

[nutshell]

I decided to only bring ¥50000 with me .., so will see how it goes. I’m very much a CC user, I never carry cash. So I’ll be using CC as much as I can. Have prepaid for a number of things with CC already, and I did Mobile Suica on my iPhone so I can reload that with Apple Pay (MC).

Did you have to switch your region to Japan to get Mobile Suica?

 

[CanucksRock]

Did you have to switch your region to Japan to get Mobile Suica?

No, I just went into Apple Wallet and used the + at the top to add Transit Card. It did not work at first, but I was trying in the early afternoon …which is middle of the the night in Japan and they like to do maintenance then, so I tried later in the evening and it worked with Apple Pay - Visa did not work (known issue), Mastercard did.

 

[MasonsG]

just back from 10 days and it was easier just to use yen than to try and get a credit card to work unless it was a large purchase. We had Visa and most places did not want an American credit card unless they were high end. Absolutely no problem with any of 3 different ATM cards in the family at the 7-11s that are everywhere. They added a charge of 220 yen (maybe $1.64 US) for both withdrawing 50,000 or for 100,000 yen. Lesser amounts were half that price but you paid each time you used your card to withdraw. We bought Suica cards once we had the yen so that we did not have to buy tickets each time we got on the subway. Or for purchases at most conveniece stores and most vending machines. So they were super handy.

 

[nycdisneygal]

We had Visa and most places did not want an American credit card unless they were high end.

Meaning only amex platinum and Chase reserve? Or others too?

 

[MasonsG]

Meaning only the more expensive places, most everywhere we tried said they only took Japanese credit cards, I had one platinum and an ordinary Chase visa as well, they just were not accepting credit cards other than Japan's own. Had no problem at all using any of them at the airport though. Zero success at DisneySea. Maybe I wasn't spending enough. It felt really odd going 10 days and never using a credit card.
But our ATM cards worked fine at the 7-11s, no issues at all getting yen, just the challenge of deciding how much to pull out. Lots of little withdrawals can really add up the fees. $1.65 roughly to withdraw 100,000 yen or even 50,000 yen was a great deal. I would select the option to charge my account in yen since it didn't charge me foreign transaction fees. Maybe someone else knows if that was the best way but worked out in our case. No issues using a 10,000 yen note, they were accepted everywhere- its about $75. I miss being there already. Incredible country. Had no problem trading in the leftover yen at the airport and they trimmed almost nothing off, it was a bank I believe, in terminal 1, Not TravelEx.

 

[Kwami]

Meaning only amex platinum and Chase reserve? Or others too?

Some smaller shops have an outdated idea that only Japanese credit cards will work in their machines. In reality, probably any common card (e.g. Visa, Mastercard) would work just fine, but it's usually not worth arguing about. It's easier to just pay in cash.

 

[gelatoni fan]

It's actually quite rare for physical shops to accept Japanese credit cards but not foreign ones. What's more common is that your bank sees it as a weird transaction and blocks it without telling you. For example, my mom and sister have had problems with their cards in Japan but I had zero problems using the exact same card at the exact same place. Sometimes setting a travel alert with your bank can help if you don't frequently travel. Sometimes staff will see my card, say they don't accept it and then be surprised when it works after I tell them to run it through the machine. I've even had a confused cashier not know how to process foreign credit cards at the Pokemon Center in Yokohama which seems like a place that should expect foreign tourists. But I generally interact with shopkeepers in Japanese so if you can only speak English, they may be more reluctant to trust that your card will work.

The only place I've actually really had issues is with ticketing systems such as Disney and for concerts, music festivals, etc.

 

[dunkindonut]

If you really don't want to deal with ATMs, you could also go to your bank and do a currency exchange beforehand.

 

[nutshell]

Meaning only the more expensive places, most everywhere we tried said they only took Japanese credit cards, I had one platinum and an ordinary Chase visa as well, they just were not accepting credit cards other than Japan's own. Had no problem at all using any of them at the airport though. Zero success at DisneySea. Maybe I wasn't spending enough. It felt really odd going 10 days and never using a credit card.
But our ATM cards worked fine at the 7-11s, no issues at all getting yen, just the challenge of deciding how much to pull out. Lots of little withdrawals can really add up the fees. $1.65 roughly to withdraw 100,000 yen or even 50,000 yen was a great deal. I would select the option to charge my account in yen since it didn't charge me foreign transaction fees. Maybe someone else knows if that was the best way but worked out in our case. No issues using a 10,000 yen note, they were accepted everywhere- its about $75. I miss being there already. Incredible country. Had no problem trading in the leftover yen at the airport and they trimmed almost nothing off, it was a bank I believe, in terminal 1, Not TravelEx.

Zero success at DisneySea? I’m guessing the problem was on your credit card companies’ end. Foreign cards are used all day, every day at DisneySea.

 

[CanucksRock]

We have been using our credit cards everywhere with zero issues (other than in the Disney app - in person was fine)

For Suica, I have an iPhone so added the transit pass on there and just used Mastercard via Apple Pay to load it. I used ¥10,000 over two weeks (we stayed at TDR the first 4 nights and last 5 nights, so separately bought the 4 day monorail pass for ¥1500 (that was cash only)

I brought ¥50,000 but would have done fine with ¥10,000 …very rare did I encounter cash only.