True! Cash is king in Japan followed by IC card.
Monzo’s ATM withdrawal limits (after identity verification) are:
- Daily: £250
- Monthly: £1,000
- Annual: £3,000
These are in place to reduce their exposure to fraud
Some banks are willing to increase withdrawal limits if you call them and indeed requesting higher ATM limits following extra security checks might be a neat feature for Monzo.
But there is a second problem - Japanese banks have dropped the one-time withdrawal limit on foreign bank cards to 50,000 yen following a heist on 15 May 2016.
Regarding Monzo to Suica:
“Only yen may be used to load a card. A credit card cannot be used to load a Suica.”
So your best bet might be to transfer money (eg. https://transferwise.com) to your wife’s Japanese bank account, I believe the limits will be higher.