Here are the two most common ways to recover Japanese Yen (¥ / 円 / JPY):

• before departure : at a currency exchange office or bank;

• on the spot in Japan : by withdrawing from an automatic teller machine (DAB) or in a foreign exchange office, with your bank card.

All methods for obtaining yen require you to go through a financial intermediary, who charges a bank and/or exchange commission (see below).

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Before leaving

In your country of origin, exchange offices are best able to provide you with the desired currencies. However, they are generally only found in large urban areas, often in the city center and more generally in business or "themed" districts (such as rue Vivienne in Paris).

Concerning the banks, in addition to their often very high fees, they only rarely have Japanese banknotes in stock. Indeed, Yen denominations are much less in demand than the US Dollar, for example. To provide you, the banks therefore ask to warn them well in advance, sometimes up to a month, to order them themselves! As for the Post 📮, it often aligns with the important commissions of the banks; moreover, it almost always asks to have an account at the Postal Bank to be able to provide you with yen. -- Update: La Poste no longer seems to offer the exchange of JPY anymore...

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Also beware of the maximum limit of ¥1,000,000 (~€7,208) per person, beyond which you will have to make a declaration to Japanese customs 🛂 when landing!

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Once in Japan

The solution of withdrawing from an ATM in Japan has many disadvantages:

1. Their very reduced opening hours . Indeed, unlike the West where they are accessible 24 hours a day, in Japan ATMs 🏧 are generally set to bank opening hours, around 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.! Finding a distributor is therefore only the first test, because then it still has to be open... Not to mention public holidays or national vacation periods such as Golden Week or New Year's, during which they may be closed several days in a row. Or again, in July 2018 the Mizuho bank  disabled  all its ATMs for 3 days to update their software...

2. Also, depending on your bank contract and card brand, again  the commissions charged can quickly climb very high , not to mention the very low weekly or monthly ceilings.

3. In addition, many banks  limit the amount possible to withdraw to 50,000¥ (~€360.40), which can quickly prove to be far too little to travel quietly on the spot without necessarily looking at the expense.

4. Finally, let's not forget  the language barrier , whether at the counter or on many ATMs which can only display Japanese.

Thus, many travelers to Japan have already found themselves "stuck" in Japan with very little Yen left in their wallet, because of ceilings reached too quickly or crazy fees.

Currency exchange fees

Exchange fees and other commissions are unavoidable and of several types. Their amounts vary according to the service provider; for example, banks apply two commissions: banking and foreign exchange. Sometimes even a minimum sum is imposed.

We have compiled all these average costs observed, ranked from least to most interesting:

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Commission on the amount exchanged Fixed fees per transaction

Currency exchange in office at the airport (absolutely avoid!) from 4 to 8% up to 18€

Currency exchange at a bank outside Japanfrom 3 to 6%up to €15

Currency exchange at a bank or exchange office in Japanfrom 3 to 6%up to €12

Withdrawal of Yens from an ATM in Japan with your bank card from 3 to 6% up to €8

Currency exchange at exchange offices outside Japanfrom 3 to 6%up to €5

Currency exchange in exchange office on the Internet 📶 (see below) around 1.5 to 2.9% none (excluding any shipping costs)