Money exchange at Narita

We will be exchanging quite a bit of money on the way into Tokyo, and we have been told that the best place to do it is at one of the banks in Narita airport (not the travelex or money exchange places). My husband wants to get the large sum in traveler's checks here in the US, because he has heard that they give better exchange rates if you give the traveler's checks.

Again, this is only in reference to the airport banks as we know travelex has a higher rate.

We have also heard that we will get a better rate from the Narita banks than from anywhere else here in the US if we were to do it in advance. Is that true?

Is it best to hand the Narita banks traveler's checks to exchange for best rate? Again, we would only be getting the traveler's checks for the purpose of the exchange, we would not be using these in Japan. Thank you!

You do get a better rate at banks in Japan than in the US. The exception could be the Sumitomo Bank with offices in LA, Chicago, and New York. The last time I did business with them I got the same rate as at a bank in Japan with no fees attached, unlike the US banks which give you a terrible rate as if you couldn't read the rates in the paper and then charge a $20 transaction fee on top.

However, since the increase in security and worries about underground activities, a limit has been imposed in Japan on the cashing of more than Y100,000 (about $1000). It actually states that you need a domestic foreign address in your passport to cash more than $1000, but some banks don't understand their own fine print. I've had to have Japanese friends countersign cashing a bit more than $1000 for me; I would sign the checks over to them and then they would give me the cash - all at the bank. At the Narita banks and downtown Tokyo banks, they don't seem to worry as much or know the law and I've cashed as much as $1500 at a time without a problem. Outside Tokyo, though, I've found the banks will sell you $1000 Amex travelers checks but then won't cash them for you. If you have an overly large amount of $ in checks, you could run into the limit problem.

A travelers check will get you about a 1% higher rate than cash. Unless you get the checks free, which some banks offer as a service, you break even over cash. Using an ATM gets you a higher rate also, but you pay a transaction fee with each use.