Money Orders?

I am studying abroad in Japan, and unfortunately when I got here my debit card would not work for withdrawing cash from ATMs, and my bank doesn't know why. My parents said they can send me a money order and then I take it to a bank in Japan to get money. But I don't know anything about money orders. Does anyone here know whether this would work in my situation? Soon I'm supposed to receive a travel card in the mail so hopefully that will work.

"Money order" is a very generic term. Ask your parents to be mire precise about what they want to do.

Also, about your ATM card, you might want to try it at ATMs of other bznks that you have not tried yet (e.g., if you have tried at Japan Post and at Seven and it didn't work at either ond, try it at Aeon). Sometimes, cards don't work at some banks but work at others for unclear reasons.

Yeah, I was thinking I'll try it at Japan Post next time it's open. Aeon accepts international cards?

Yes, if you use the ATMs shown here: https://map.aeonbank.co.jp/aeonbank/?lang=en

Ah, okay, I will try there as well.

Have you notified your bank (debt card issuer) that you will be using it in Japan?
Banks will not honor any transaction they deem gsuspicious.h

Yes, we notified the bank.

Be sure to find one of those ginternational ATMh to use your debit card. I hope that works.

In case you (or your parents) are still thinking about money order, as far as I know, the only thing that works from the US to Japan is ginternational postal money orderh that your parents can buy at a US post office. Once they send them and you receive them, you can take them to a post office (not to a bank, and not to a service counter in any retail shop) to cash them. But you will probably need an ID, gmy number,h and stamp (hanko) to cash it.

Just to note, the regular US money orders or personal checks are not easy to cash in Japan. You take one to a bank in Japan, then they will have to send it to the US first to clear it, and only after it is cleared you get the money in Japan. A long wait.

Today I tried the ATM at Aeon, and I couldn't get that one to work either. Haven't tried Japan Post yet, but I probably will tomorrow, and I'll keep an eye out for other ATMs that say they accept international cards.

Oh, thank you for the information about money orders in Japan. Sounds like it might not work for me... I'll let my parents know. I sure hope this travel card that I'm supposed to be getting later this week will work. Any chance of that going wrong too or will it probably be okay?

In the worst case, there's always Western Union. Fees are higher than for other methods of transferring money, but it works absolutely everywhere.

If you are studying in Japan you should be a resident, presumably. Canft you open a bank account in Japan (eg Shinsei, Prestia, jp Post bank...) ? Then your parents could do a normal bank transfer or one with Transferwise.

Apparently I will be getting a Japanese bank account soon because I will receive scholarship money into it. I'm supposed to find out more details about that today.