I generally carry cash, but a couple of times I was caught short, or had too big notes, so paid by Monzo card and it worked fine.
Hi all. We are going to Japan for the rugby world cup and will probably be a once in a lifetime trip to Japan. I was advised to get a Monzo card and was going to put most of our spending money on it to use while we are out there, but this sounds like I should be taking mostly cash. Is this correct? I dont want to come back with loads of cash I might not spend again. Iām also not sure what you mean by activating the magstrip? Can you give me any more info on this please.
Good blog by the way, very helpful
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Iāve been in Japan three times in the last two years, and in one of my trips travelled extensively across the country. In Japan many places still accept only cash, so you will need to withdraw some from the ATMs (I used always 7elevenās which are everywhere and free to use), so withdraw some cash, and whenever possible use your card to pay, and top up your cash when it runs out.
You will also need to buy a Pasmo or Suica card to use transport (like Oyster) but also you can use it to pay in many locations. I think you can only use cash to top up your IC (Pasmo/Suica) card.
Have a great time, Japan is an amazing country!
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Just got back from Japan last week. Monzo was widely accepted where cards were taken. Some of the cash machines had a problem but in 7-11 and Family Mart machines it was fine. I would recommend also having a Suica/Pasmo cards for travel as this is also widely accepted as payment in shops/vending machines. A virtual Suica card can be downloaded in the App Store and topped up using Apple Pay.
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Hi there. Japan is primarily a cash-based society but more and more places are accepting cards, but even when they do there can be some problems.
You donāt need to take a lot of cash, however I would be wary that Monzo only allows Ā£200 of cash withdrawn while abroad before charging 3% fees. While this is fine for occasional cash only scenarios in other countries, it can add up in Japan. I would therefore recommend getting a secondary bank account with Starling (no fees for international withdrawals), or a credit card that doesnāt charge for international transactions and cash withdrawals (I believe Halifax clarity is one of these, but Iād recommend checking yourself for this). Alternatively, you can check whether the 3% charge for withdrawing cash is less than the difference between buying cash in the UK and the Mastercard exchange rate.
As far as āenable magstripeā goes, some cash machines will only use the magnetic strip of the card rather than the chip to do the withdrawal. With Monzo, and I think other banks too, this will be disabled by default. You can enable it for 7 days at a time in your Monzo app by going to the āAccountsā tab, tapping on āManageā next to your card and the option is about halfway down.
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I can confirm that cash is still king in Japan.
It is safe to carry cash, as you have less chances to get mugged, then in other countries 
Suica/Pasmo cards are good to travel, and pay in shops, but can only be recharged in cash! Try to run out the money on the card before you leave as they will charge you for a refund.
I had Monzo, and Barclays Visa, but as I was paranoid andI also bought Ā£500 in cash, which I happily used 
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thank you for this thatās been really useful advice and much appreciated.
I have a Suica card added to my iPhone and that lets you top up using a debit card in Apple Pay (i.e. my Monzo card). Itās only supported on iPhones from the 8 and onwards (or the 7 if you bought one in Japan) but if that applies to you, itās a good idea to get one.
Thank you , the tour Company we have booked with are giving us a suica card loaded already for travel between matches etc, so we will probably get more advice on that while we are there.
Thanks again everyone.
Canāt wait!
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Hey, just a heads up for anybody in Japan right now. Weāre currently receiving reports of Seven Bank ATMs at 7-11 stores declining all withdrawals.
In the mean time, ATMs at Family Mart, Lawson, and JP Post appear to be working fine. 
I will keep you updated as we investigate.
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Hi. Couple of things.
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Has anyone bought Ghibli Museum tickets from https://l-tike.com/st1/ghibli-en/ with a Monzo card before? Iāve had some Japanese websites reject the card in the past (or take the money and then immediately refund it again and claim itās not accepted) and the tickets for when Iām going go on sale at 2am tonight, so I donāt want to be messing about with different cards at 2am lol.
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@Rika have the ATM issues with 7-11 been resolved?
The ATM issues with 7-11 have been resolved (within ~48 hours of me posting that).
Their ATM network fell off the Mastercard global network (and we believe Visa too but cannot prove that beyond user reports). Local withdrawals worked but not foreign cards did.
I apologize for not updating earlier.
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I did pay with my Monzo card in the museum shop back in September 2017, but I canāt find/remember how did I pay the online tickets. I think I actually got my Monzo card around that time (actually I join Monzo because of that trip to Japan) so I think I did use a different card for the booking. No much help, sorry.
Have an amazing time at the museum! Donāt forget to watch the short film of the day!
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Thanks. Iāve been before actually, but last time was when third parties sold the tickets in the UK outside of tours so I paid in pounds. Now Lawson Tickets are a thing so I donāt know.
As an update, the Lawson Ticket website for Ghibli Museum tickets does accept Monzo. However, they do a card check by doing a 1Ā„ transaction and itās put through as a POS transaction so I got āWelcome to Japanā and āEnable magstripeā messages in my feed 
Protip though: the website was under super heavy load and was 503ing constantly. Took me an hour after the tickets went live at 2am to actually complete a full purchase. Persevere and youāll get the tickets. When I woke up proper at 9am, most time slots were either sold out or had only a few left.
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I thought so too. Support told me otherwise over chat, for tx in USA. I doubt it is country specific.
Theyāve told me that also , but Iāve used monzo abroad in 2 countries doing magstripe transactions but ATM magstripe was turned off.
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Yeah, I think the support agent you spoke to, @Js38wju3jda, was confused. This has happened before. But magstripe is always on for transactions (this has been confirmed several times since the early days on this forum).
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Is this an app that I should download on my iPhone? Will it work on transportation and other things?
I will bring my Monzo as well and I would imagine that it works on ATMs by the thread above.
UPDATE 2024: since this post is still being used I feel obliged to update it to say you donāt need to download an app on your iPhone any more to create a virtual Suica card. Just open the Wallet app, make sure you have at least one debit card (such as Monzo) and then tap the + icon, choose āTravel Cardā, scroll to Japan and pick Suica. You can then either transfer a physical card to a digital one (does not work with āWelcome Suicaā) or create a new one which you top up using Apple Pay. You can find all the info at Add a Suica, PASMO or ICOCA card to Apple Wallet ā Apple Support (UK)
Original post from 2019:
Suica cards are like Oyster cards in that you store money and train tickets on them, but can be used in some shops and vending machines as well. It is possible to download an app on iPhones (8 and onwards due to hardware requirements) and create a Suica card and then top it up using Apple Wallet.
The easiest way to do it is to use this app: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/suicaeng/id1304852119 which has English instructions and I donāt think it requires your phoneās region to be set to Japan unlike the normal Suica app. Youāll be asked to top up at least 1000yen to start with. (some of the reviews complain about it not working with iPhone 7 even though the app says it does. Only if an iPhone 7 is bought in Japan is the correct hardware in the phone for it to work. iPhone 8 and onwards have the hardware worldwide)
If you do this, you can set it up for express transit (in Wallet settings) so you can just tap your phone without needing TouchID or FaceID on ticket barriers at stations, vending machines and in some shops (itās treated like cash, thus no need for additional verification).
Suica isnāt the only card that does this in Japan. Collectively theyāre known as āIC Cardsā so anywhere that mentions IC cards, you can probably use Suica with some exceptions.
To answer the question of āshouldā you download it, since Monzo charge for foreign cash withdrawals over Ā£200 per month, Iād be tempted to load the Suica card up and use it wherever you can as topping it up is counted as an online transaction, not a cash withdrawal. That being said, you will still need to take cash out at points as debit/credit cards arenāt that big over there (remember to turn on magstripe cash withdrawals in the app every 7 days for most ATMs to work).
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