Thank COVID for making one aspect of travelling in Japan much easier

If you’ve been to Japan, you know the problem. Back home in Australia, you’re used to paying for most things – restaurant bills, entry fees, train tickets – with your credit or debit card, either the physical object, or the digital version on your phone.

You don’t even enter your PIN most of the time, you just tap and go. It’s easy.

Things have changed when it comes to payment methods in the Land of the Rising Sun.Credit: Greg Straight

In Japan, however, it wasn’t easy. Until recently this was still a very much cash-only society, where even restaurant bills going up into the many hundreds of dollars would have to be settled with cold, hard currency.

And that currency is not always easy to get in Japan because standard ATMs at Japanese banks generally don’t accept foreign cards. You would have to go to a post office or a 7-Eleven and use the ATMs there. You still do.

But things have changed markedly in the past few years when it comes to payment methods in the Land of the Rising Sun. And while it’s pretty rare for us to say, “You can thank COVID-19 for that” and mean it in a positive way, well, you can thank COVID-19 for that.

The pandemic has helped drag Japan into the 21st century when it comes to payment options. Card and contactless tap-and-go options become much more desirable during the global outbreak of a communicable disease, so the need to carry large wads of cash in Japan has largely diminished.

If you’re travelling in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, you can now go almost cash-free. Train tickets and most other public transport access can be bought with a credit or debit card (though ideally, if you’re an iPhone user, you will load a local IC transport card such as Pasmo or Suica into your digital wallet and use that to tap on and off).

Tourist attractions in large cities will almost always accept card payments now, as will restaurants, souvenir shops, convenience stores, supermarkets, taxis, hotels and hostels, and most bars where you can open a tab. Some small drinking establishments might still require payment in cash, but these will be rare.

Therefore, if you have a debit or credit card that doesn’t charge you foreign transaction and conversion fees (such as ING and Wise), this is definitely the best way to handle your money in big cities in Japan.

The only time travellers are likely to run into trouble using cards in Japan is away from the major centres and popular tourist attractions. There, tap-and-go options will not be anywhere near as widespread, and it’s a good idea to always carry at least the equivalent of $100 in cash to cover food bills or any other small expenses you might incur.

Regardless of where you’re travelling in Japan, however, if you’re planning to use digital cards for tap-and-go transactions, ensure you have mobile phone service, either via a reasonably priced roaming plan from your Australian mobile provider, with a Japan-compatible eSIM, or with a pre-paid Japanese SIM, which you will need to order before you arrive, and pick up at the airport.