Thank you for this! Good to know that 7-Eleven is still free. Was sure I heard that they were going to start charging.
Also, good to know Mandarake have chip+pin. I rely on cash almost entirely when in Japan, so this is good news.
If you donāt mind me asking, with the shops that have card machines that you tried, did any of them charge in pounds without telling you, or were they all in yen?
Nope. The only place that offered me GBP payment was my hotel (I paid with visa CC), which I refused. No other shop seemed to have this option and all my monzo transactions were in JPY.
Cool. I had the option when I paid for something in VenusFort but I was handed the reader to do the entire process in English, so I could pick JPY rather than GBP 
Just back from japan. Most ATMās I tried accepted my card. Only a few that didnāt. Some charged a fee, it seemed pretty random. Card worked in all terminals I tried. Had others with me with other MasterCard that wouldnāt work sometimes.
Used my card in a 7 11 and it was swiped and approved with no signature or pin, I have magstripe off so no idea how it worked.
Thereās a general confusion with magstripe. Itās always on for purchases - the toggle in the app is just for ATMs.
Just got back from 2 weeks in Japan and the information in this thread was invaluable. Nothing new to add really just got cash out in 7-eleven since there are so many and there was no fee.
Thanks all.
Also a recent returnee from Japan. My experience was very similar to the above. However for ATM withdrawals I used my Starling card for obvious reasons.
The number of places that accepted cards for purchases was higher than I had expected. Places that didnāt were museums and transport providers including purchase and recharging of IC/Paso cards.
The Japanese Goverment appears to be making a big push to encourage card usage. One thing they are proposing is that next yearās increase in sales tax from 8% to 10% be mitigated for card users by putting the additional 2% into a loyalty type scheme that could be used in the future.
This proposal appears very contentious from the articles I read in the local English language newspapers.
The ubiquitous IC/Pasmo travel cards (similar to Oyster cards but all types work on almost all transport networks wherever the cards were otiginally issued.) are commonly accepted for payments in shops, chain restaurants etc.
Thanks for confirming no fee from 7-eleven ATMs (although I wonder if they charge at certain times of day like how ATMs at some places are turned off on Sundays and public holidays). Earlier this year I got charged a fee from a JP Post ATM so I need to not use those next time (next year hopefully).
Some great tips in this thread that helped me out when I visited Japan recently, so thanks everyone for taking the time.
My experience with the 7-eleven ATMs was slightly different though. There was a small āhandling chargeā (216 JPY) each time that I withdrew cash using a fee-free Visa debit card from another provider. This was in Tokyo.
Echoing earlier comments - cash very much seemed to be king over there, but the larger stores and some restaurants that I went to were happy to take card (inc one of my favs - Coco Ichi).
I loved that they accept all the different IC cards pretty much everywhere (rather than just the one for the region you are in), but these cards can only be ārechargedā with cash I believe, so are not necessarily a way to avoid it if youāre trying to.
I had a fantastic time and will definitely be returning in the next couple of years to visit some of the other cities. It will be interesting to see how card usage/acceptance there develops.
Interesting.
There was a screen with āaccount typeā options, what were you selecting? I used both Monzo and Starling and selected ācheckingā and didnāt get charged once.
@theshillito - variety of times for me across half a dozen different stores:
You can recharge them at most (all) train and metro stations using the ticket machines (most have an option for English), but also at the counter at one of the many convenience stores - 7-11, Lawson, Family Mart. Again, itās fine if you donāt have the card from that region (I recharged a ICOCA card in a 7-eleven in Hiroshima).
@swok1080 āCheckingā here too. Is this possibly a Visa/MasterCard thing?
Thought Iād add my experiences here (March 2019). Mostly positive but a couple of really annoying places where the card just wouldnāt swipe or chip and pin (eg places with high spend).
Monzo accepted:
Lawson
7/11
Tokyu Hands
Isetan
Takashimaya
Various supermarkets
Pauls baker
Monzo not accepted:
The hotel I am staying in
Mapcamera
Will update as the trip progresses.
Itās worth contacting in-app support about your problems at the hotel. Maybe they can shed some light on it.
Without additional hardware or registration, yes. 
Suica in Apple Pay allows you to top up the card from another Apple Pay card though. This is my preferred method of using it.
Well Iām in Bic Camera Akihabara, and my Monzo card did not work, even after activating magstrip 
Interesting. I wonder what went wrong (activating magstrip is only for ATMs by the way).
Yes, I knew the strip was for atm but done it anyway just in case. Annoying as we tried 2 different terminals and didnāt work.
Then after,I got an ice cream and it worked, using the pinā¦
I tried my card on almost all floors in mapcamera and it did not work anywhere. After speaking to Monzo support it may be an issue in general with debit cards in Japan as even my fathers debit card from another bank did not work in the same places Monzo did not work.
I even checked if the shops were on the MasterCard network and they said they were and still, the Monzo wouldnāt work.
Itās a shame it canāt be the single payment solution for travel to Japan. Definitely advisable to have a credit card to back up any critical purchases!
I think is more an issue with their card machines.
My Visa debit card worked, when MasterCard didnāt although is was supposed to. Only a couple of places though.Then Monzo worked pretty much everywere else. So I donāt think is an issue with debit cards in general.