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Yen
Now that our tour is getting close, many questions come to mind.
I read that although credit cards can be used, there are times when cash would be preferred.
Any suggestions as to how much money we should bring in Japanese currency... and what type of situations would we be in where cash would be needed/preferred?
Also....should the tips (tour director/bus drivers) be in yen or dollars?
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I suggest that $100 in currency would be enough for small purchases, coffee, etc.
I get the yen from an atm at the airport when I land, no need to get it at my bank as they charge a fee and don't give a good exchange rate
Did the trip last year. You shouldn't BRING any Yen. You should get it in Japan. Best place is the ATM in a 7-11, believe it or not. There are 7-11s every few blocks (it's a Japanese company!)
As far as amount, it depends on what you plan on using it for. Some trains don't take American credit cards in their ticket kiosks. Other than that, credit cards were accepted just about everywhere. If it's just for incidentals, the equiv of 100 USD should be more than enough.
You can tip in any combination of USD and Yen. The TD is likely in Japan for the season. I regularly get rid of my left over foreign currency in the tip envelope.
We did not take any Yen to Japan. We spent three weeks there in September and used convenience stores which are all over the place and have ATM’s . We maybe exchanged money three times but otherwise used credit cards. Our TD was Japanese. We tipped him in dollars, which for three weeks was a substantial amount. Otherwise, Japan does not have a tipping culture, people might be offended if you tried to tip them
Sue M, what are your dates? We are on The March 18th one.
Just saw on next thread, April for you.
Yes, our tour begins April 8th....we will be flying from NY on April 5th...arriving in Tokyo on the 6th.
We will spend two nights at the hotel before the beginning of the tour.