ATM card or US cash to change to yen

I've heard of people getting to their destination only to find that their ATM card is blocked-even when they notified the bank, so in order to avoid that should I bring cash to exchange?

It doesn't hurt to have at least a few hundred USD (or the equiv in yen) on you when you arrive. That will probably give you enough cash to hold you over until you could fix a potential atm hold.

btw, I've encountered an atm hold in the past and was able to clear it up in about 2 mins by calling my bank.

I'd bring cash just to make sure you're covered. I always do the exchange beforehand so I have some cash just in case when traveling internationally.

I would do half and half, as in bring a few hundred US dollars to exchange at the airport (or you could do traveler's checks for better rates) and exchange a hundred dollars for yen before you arrive. That way you'll have both currencies at the same time.

Thanks to ATM machines the use of Traveller's Checks is declining, not every bank issues them anymore. When we went to Japan in 2013 we wanted to bring some Traveller's Checks for emergencies, but had a hard time getting them here in the USA. In the end we didn't really use them. We had no problem using ATM machines at the Post Office and also used our credit card when possible. Credit cards usually have great exchange rates.

Thank you all for your answers, now I know that I will take cash and my debit card
!