Canadian credit / debit cards with chips

All my Canadian credit cards and ATM cards now have chips. However some travellers to Europe have mentioned that the chips aren't compatible with European bank machines.

Did any Canadians that travelled recently to Japan had trouble using these cards??

are they MIFARE based? MIFARE classic is not compatible with any ISO standards for proximity cards. MIFARE DESfire are compatible with ISO 14443-A, but also be advised that FeLiCa is not compatible with 14443-A, but only ISO 18092 (which allows 14443 and FeLiCa, among others). That is to say, only NFC (ISO 18092) readers will be able to read both FeLiCa and ISO 14443.

This does not mean, however, that FeLiCa supports any of these.

tl;dr: it won't work

We were in Tokyo in November, and our Visa is the new style with the chip. We had no issues anyplace that we used it - this included the places we stayed and when we shopped.

nattofriends... very impressive info..however how can the average person find out if the card is MIFARE based or something else!!!! I am pretty sure that none of the tellers in my bank have a clue.

oh, wasted all that technical detail for nothing -- thought you were talking about the contactless systems (payWave and payPass here)

otherwise, yeah the new cards which just have a shiny chip thing should work just fine.

All of the ''chip'' cards I have, also still have the magnetic stripe on the back. Worst case scenario, you use the tried and true magstripe to complete your purchase.

,,,"you use the tried and true magstripe"

If only! on my last trip to Japan none of cards (with a stripe only) worked on the JR machines as there was no slot to swipe them. They did work in hotels with the machines that had both a swipe slot and the front opening (like an ATM)
Could it be that the JR staff was supposed to leave the card in the slot while he entered the fare etc.??
Thank you all for your help. you are great.