Yen or visa debit?

3% is about the going rate for cash exchangers also. I the going rate is 87 yen to your dollar, the exchanges are gonna offer around 83-84 yen to your dollar. Still loosing some 3-5%.

And when you have money left over at the end of the trip, that is a further 3-5% to change it back to your own currency.

Pulling out 50,000-100,000 yen each transaction @ 3% fee will work out cheaper in the long run as you only need to pull out what you need after you adjust for how much spending you do per day.

I was planning on going to travelex

Noooooo

That is THE WORST THING YOU COULD DO!!

Get the point.

If you were going to exchange US$3,000 to yen using travelex, I would come from my house, spend 2 1/2 hours travelling to Narita and exchange your cash personally at a better rate, and I'd still make a profit on my day.

I guess the OP doesn't read people's posts or cares to heed the warnings....NO TRAVELEX!

3% transaction fee is expensive, but you might be paying that much for cash exchange anyway. It's just hidden in an adjusted exchange rate that is less favorable than what the Visa/MC digital system uses.

For example, checking Visa's website, they give 11140 yen per $100 right now. GPA counter at Narita is advertising 10832. That's a 2.8% fee already. They charge about 2% going back from yen to dollars. So if you exchange too much cash, you lost about 5% total.

I do care about the responses. But no one is suggesting any alternatives to travelex. So I�fll jjst assume the next best idea is the pull out 400$ at a time from atms as I go, that may be the best rate.

Many people are suggesting alternatives.
If you choose not to read them, that is a different thing.

I guess you don't read my responses through to the end. Oh well, good luck. I'm out.

I read them. However, I just contacted my other company and they informed me that have 0 foreign transaction fees, 0 atm withdrawal fees.. i would just be subjected to visa's 1% foreign exchange rate with each swipe. so i will just stick with atm withdrawals along the way. thank you EVERYONE for your input.

Go to one of the banks at the airport.

I occasionally get US dollars from people (cash) - I use the exchange machines at the airport as they give slightly better rates than the bank it is attached to (and quicker/easier). Very simple to check.

AND

the rates you get from the banks at airports is the same nationwide - they don't price gouge like travelex.

On a related note, the reference to "Visa" above is misleading as the exchange cost relates to the bank issuing card, not Visa itself. My bank from New Zealand has two fees for a combined 2.5%. If I reverse a transaction i get the fees reversed too. I know some people/banks/countries get charged the fees on both transactions. I normally deal in six major currencies and have been moving money around internationally for a couple of decades - these days I usually don't pay more than 1% for converting one currency to another.

I have used Travelex online & their rates, while not the best have not been terrible. Their booths at the airport are a different matter. Changing at the airport is a mugs game anyway. I have not mentioned others as I don't know if they are available in the OP's home country. But seeing as this is being seen as some sort of omission, recently I have been using FairFX and they have been very good. I don't know if they are only available in the UK though.

You can see some current rates in Japan right now at:
https://www.gpa-net.co.jp/en/passenger-service/rate/
https://www.mizuhobank.co.jp/market/quote/index.html

Compare it with what you can get where you are. Should give you some idea how good it is.