Cash is still king (bring yen)
Japan is more cash-friendly than almost any other rich country. Big-city restaurants, chains, and department stores take cards, but small ramen shops, izakaya, family-run places, shrines and temples (for offerings and charms), market stalls, and most of rural Japan often expect cash. Always keep a few thousand yen on you. A good rhythm: pull a chunk of cash from an ATM, use IC or card where accepted, and let the cash cover the small places. You'll end up with a pocketful of coins — that's normal, and they're worth real money (see below).
- Carry a small coin purse — you accumulate coins fast and they add up.
- Break 10,000-yen notes at convenience stores or big shops; tiny places may struggle with change.
- Temple and shrine offering boxes want coins (a 5-yen coin, go-en, is traditional — it's a pun on 'good fortune').
Cards, IC cards & PayPay
In Tokyo and other cities, Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted, and contactless is common. The smoothest tool for a tourist is an IC card — Suica or Pasmo — which you tap for trains, buses, vending machines, and most convenience stores. You can add a Suica to Apple Wallet / Google Wallet and top it up from your phone, which avoids fumbling for change. QR-code apps like PayPay are everywhere among locals and at small shops, but setup as a tourist is fiddly, so don't rely on it — IC card plus some cash covers nearly everything.
- Add Suica to your phone's wallet before or on arrival — tap-to-pay for trains and konbini is the single biggest convenience.
- A foreign contactless card sometimes won't tap on train gates — use the IC card for transit.
- Tell your bank you're travelling so your card isn't blocked abroad.
Getting cash: which ATMs work
Not every ATM accepts foreign cards — many domestic bank machines will reject them. The two reliable options: 7-Eleven ATMs (Seven Bank), available 24/7 in convenience stores nationwide with English menus, and Japan Post Bank ATMs (post offices, plus some malls and stations), though those keep shorter hours. Both take Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus and more. Expect a small fixed fee per withdrawal (around ¥100–220) on top of whatever your home bank charges.
- 7-Eleven is the easiest fallback — there's almost always one nearby and it's open round the clock.
- Withdraw a larger amount fewer times to minimise per-transaction fees.
- Choose to be charged in yen, not your home currency, if the ATM asks — the 'home currency' conversion rate is usually worse.
No tipping
There is no tipping culture in Japan, full stop. Restaurants, taxis, hotels, bars, hairdressers — none of it. Good service is simply the standard, and leaving extra cash can confuse staff or feel awkward; someone may even chase you down to return 'forgotten' money. Just pay the listed amount. Some restaurants add a small table charge (otōshi, a little appetiser you didn't order) or a service charge at higher-end places — that's built into the bill, not a tip you decide.
- Don't leave coins on the table — it reads as litter, not generosity.
- Don't tip the taxi driver or hotel porter.
- Don't insist when told 'no thank you' — graciously accepting the no is the polite move.
Tax-free shopping for tourists
As a short-stay foreign visitor you can buy many goods exempt from Japan's 10% consumption tax, typically when you spend roughly ¥5,000 or more at the same store on the same day. You'll need your physical passport at checkout (a photo usually won't do), and you shop at stores displaying a 'Tax-Free' sign — common in department stores, electronics chains, and drugstores. Consumables (cosmetics, snacks, medicine) may be sealed in a bag you're meant to keep closed until you leave the country. Japan's tax-free rules are being reworked, so the exact mechanics may differ by the time and place you shop — follow the in-store instructions and keep your receipts and passport handy until departure.
- Bring your passport when you plan to shop — no passport, no tax-free.
- Concentrate big purchases at one store on one day to clear the threshold.
- Keep tax-free items and paperwork accessible; customs can ask to see them when you leave.
Denominations & the famous 500-yen coin
Coins come in 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 yen; notes in 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 (a 2,000-yen note exists but you'll rarely see it). The 500-yen coin is genuinely valuable — it's one of the highest-value circulating coins in the world, worth a few US dollars, so don't treat it like loose shrapnel. Vending machines and ticket machines happily take 100- and 500-yen coins, which is part of why coins pile up. The 5-yen (go-en) and 50-yen coins have a hole in the middle, handy for telling them apart by feel.
- Save 500-yen coins for vending machines, lockers, and small cash-only spots.
- A coin tray or zip pouch saves a lot of fumbling at the register.
- The two coins with holes are 5 and 50 yen — easy to identify in a hurry.
Rough daily budget
As a ballpark, excluding your hotel: a frugal day (convenience-store breakfast, cheap lunch, casual dinner, mostly walking and trains) runs low; a comfortable mid-range day with sit-down meals, a few attractions, and trains lands higher; and a splurge day with nicer dinners and taxis goes higher still. Convenience stores and standing/ticket-machine restaurants are excellent value and genuinely good. Trains are the cheap, fast way to move; taxis are pricey and best saved for late nights or hauling luggage.
- Konbini (7-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart) meals are cheap, fresh, and a legitimate part of eating in Japan.
- Get a transit IC card and lean on trains — taxis add up fast.
- Lunch sets (teishoku) are often far cheaper than the same restaurant's dinner.