Yeah, the TC rate does seem to be rather better, so maybe that would be a good plan if your bank doesn't charge for getting the TCs in the first place.

They had a minor charge but it wasn't a big deal. I already have my TC's bought and ready. Now I just have to survive the flights...

this might be kind of a stupid question, but why don't you just take it in cash? obviously there are risks in doing that, but it doesn't seem like a lot of money to carry round in japan (compared to other countries), especially if you're giving most of it away as soon as you get there... you could wear a money belt or something to keep it safe. Once you've got your apartment, you can leave the rest there...

As has been said throughout this thread, you can't typically change money at a US bank on such short notice.

ohhhh. oops. V_V

JimmySeal Wrote:As has been said throughout this thread, you can't typically change money at a US bank on such short notice.

You can easily get $1000 in the US though from any bank, and convert the dollars to yen once you arrive in Japan. I always take £100 or so in cash with me now when I go overseas, since my bank in the UK just randomly blocks my card for fraud prevention reasons. Doesn't matter if I warn them beforehand or how long I've been away already, it's pretty random and incredibly annoying.

Ok, if IceCream's question was asking why to bring Traveller's Cheques rather than US$, I reckon the main reason is that TCs get a considerably better exchange rate than cash, along with the fact that they are safer.

There is a good reason why TCs are hard to get and hard to cash these days-- nobody uses them anymore.

Seriously, there's an American Express office 3 blocks from my house. Do they sell traveler's checks? Nope.

I had to drive 15 miles to the nearest AAA office to get them, and it took them 30 minutes to get it straightened out. That really should have been a big *warning, warning!* signal to me.

Nobody wants to take them, nobody wants to deal with them, and good luck finding a bank that will cash them.

When I got to London, the only bank I found that would take them royally screwed me over on the exchange rate. (Lloyd's... bastards.) The rate that day was $1.59 USD per GBP, I got charged $1.74.

A week later, I used my ATM card, and got the market rate of $1.60 USD per GBP.

So yeah... just call your bank, or have the number handy, and use an ATM/Debit card like everyone else does. If the ATM spits out your card, then just call your bank and yell at them like everyone else does. I had to do that the first time I went to Japan, too, but they got it straightened out quickly after that.

They weren't that hard to get; I went to the bank and told them how much I wanted, and the whole thing took about 10 minutes.

I'm not planning on making heavy use of them; just exchanging some at Narita and that's it. The problem with debit cards and such is that I'm going to be coming into Narita having commuted for around 22 hours, with still a 2 hour train ride and 25 minute walk ahead of me to get to where I'm staying. I don't want to have to add to that ordeal by looking for an ATM or post office or bank or whatever -- I just want to cash the checks at Narita and move on.