Cash, Debit Card or travellers cheques?

Hi Going over to Japan from the UK in March for 3 weeks, mainly staying in Tokyo but am going to be travelling to other places (Kyoto, Osaka maybe Hiroshima).

My question is what would be best? Cash my Visa debit card or cash and travellers cheques?

Would there be enough places to change travellers cheque? And would my dbit card work in Japan?

Thanks for all your help.
Martin

Well, I'm not sure if you could say which is the best because they certainly compliment each other when you're in Japan.

First of all, when you bring in T/C to Japan, you're probably going to exchange them to Japanese Yen when you arrive at the airport unless you're planning a really long stay. There are many banks in Tokyo that exchange T/C but quite frankly, it's a real pain in the arse. From my experiences, it's not very often you can actually use individual travelers cheques at individual stores.

Debit Cards are somewhat useful but you should check with your bank first, whether or not they could be used at Japanese ATMs and secondly, what their foreign transaction fees are going to be. Some banks charge ridiculous fees (ie. 3% fee for every withdrawal) which would make it such a waste of money for every use.

Cash is cash, can be used anywhere but if you lose it, you're really screwed. From that perspective, it may be better to put up with the hassle of travelers cheques just so you're protected and you have piece of mind.

So I guess to wrap it up, I'd probably have most of my money in travelers cheques, have some cash on hand when you arrive in Japan, and only use your debit card in absolute emergencies so you can avoid the ridiculous fees.

Hi
I normally take a fair amount of cash well enough for a week
or so and then t/c's and US $cash which I try not to use.
Hvae exchanged t/c's in Tokyo, JR Osaka, Kyoto and
Hiroshima at post offices's within 3 minutes of train
stations. Normally takes about 5 minutes to do the
hand and sign over of t/c's.
Pretty simple and they normally ask for passport
as hotels do.
I do normally take US t/c's as easy for them to exchange I feel. Would say visit JNTO
site and print out maps of train stations with post office marked as a place to swap them as I do and do it
about 9:30 to miss rush hours at stations oh and check your hotels as well as some I stayed at have exchanged them for me. I normally use credit card for paying hotels from NZ before I leave. Oh don't forget to check any public holidays as banks etc are shut while you are away.
Kiwi

I suggest a mix of funding sources...especially if you're like me and belong to a smaller bank. For whatever reason, my debit card did NOT work at 7-11 stores, which everyone had said it would before I went. Luckily, I had some Traveller's Checks on hand just in case and they rescued me.

FYI...I found Citibank ATMs *did* work for my card. Not sure if that would be your best option coming from the UK (I'm from US).

Hi everyone thanks for your responses.

Sounds like a safe bet with TC's and some cash with my Debit Card for any emergencies.

I bank with Barclays any ideas if this should be acceptable?

I'm from the US but I used Barkley's in pounds once for the fun of it. As long as the check type shows up in the master book for comparison, they'll take it. The Post Office's seem to have just about every type of traveler's check out there listed.

I've had problems in attempting to cash over $1000 at a time, however, which has proved a hassle. I'm usually with a group of people and pay cash for hotels/ryokans and need large chunks of cash. I learned you can get around this by writing in your address in your passport and pointing it out at the banks. This isn't a problem for most people, though.