Japan is a CASH ONLY country still? ｜How you pay for things in Japan

hey guys welcome to TCT time yay so today I'm here with Emma from Australia we've yin and John both UK and I'm Shizuka and today we are we talking about payment systems in Japan this is kind of interesting because as some of you may know Japan is largely a cash holding society despite all of the advances you know payment these days that are available Japan still really loves their cash systems and I was wondering what kind of did you ever face any struggles trying to pay for things like trying to adjust this like cash system what was it like for you when you first got to Japan yeah I remember first turning up and being surprised how much money I carried on me on the paper and I know a lot of non-japanese people living here notice the same thing I think in the UK I would barely travel with more than like 20 pounds in my pocket which is in Japan you you have a tendency of carrying small portions because you pay for most things in cash and it's safe to do so yeah yeah but I think that was when I talk to people who have been in Japan a little while but not so long that's generally a common theme they carry a lot more money on them just for convenience than you would do at home so true oh yeah in Australia I used to pay for everything with my debit card everywhere has a little pad in your skipped beat and then it takes the money out of the account so I always carried you about 20 Australian dollars on me just to my wallet and I barely used it I've always just used my card so coming here yeah it's the same thing just having a water cash this started to be scary cuz it's like I've never had this much actual cash on me could just be taken in a moment like exactly but you know I always carry probably at least like $200 worth of cash in my wallet just around yeah yeah and it goes pretty fast in this country so it's like yeah it's very different very different very very different you always need to keep your wallet like stocked up with money because you never know when you're gonna need to pay with like pay for something in cash or also if you take the training a lot like I tend to still be reluctant to keep a lot of money like it'll be maybe at most like each Imam which is like ten thousand yen but that goes if you're traveling a lot every day on the trains and sometimes I find myself with like not very much my wallet I'm like oh no how am I gonna get on the training you you almost feel lost if you don't have a certain amount of money in your bullet yeah because I'm sure you knowing you can go to any convenience store and go to an ATM but you always have it in the back of your mind I've only got 1,000 or 2,000 yen in my pocket yeah which as Ian was saying that's kind of what you would carry in a week into the UK yeah right but then yeah if you're in Japan you suddenly have to carry around one hundred two hundred dollars just on your all times I know yeah always it's not I've noticed it's certainly a shift in the last couple years because I've been in Japan eight and a half years now and when I first came I said yeah you need to catch for everything though but there are a few so Japan anyone that's been there will know you got the past mo or sweeter cards yeah these are normally used to transport I take menu on the trains it's kind of uh just a you know you can put I think one thing that annoyed me about carrying cash everywhere is inevitably you end up with a sack of one-yen coins on why you can't use anywhere Kenyans are fine because you can use them at a vending machine or whatever by the ends I could everyone I guarantee all of you have a bag somewhere your mind proud like always always if I have like too many I will be the annoying person in the grocery store looks like okay I do that with my tens but the ones I find it really really hard because I mean life is spinning up I don't know I guess I leave it too long before I do something about it yeah I end up normally I find the easiest way to get rid of them it's just to go to a shrine yeah I just flick forward because because I was always walking around with let you know there's masses of coins and stuff what I decided to do was you can get past my or sweetener cards and just to brands it's basically the same card yeah you can put up to NEMA at $200 on them and more and more and more shops accept them now yes only in the last few years there's a some of you might know there's a big chain called Don Quixote we can buy if he doesn't so what you're looking for will have something very no idea my supermarket my life except sparse mode but as I found out to my detriment only one cash register accepted to do it Disneyland it does do you know nothing they started in the last couple months accepting yes we can plasma so it's really good because you can just get a speaker card loaded with $200 every time he goes down loaded with more and you never getting change for anything right like so you can't use it everywhere but more and more like chain restaurants marzia takes it other ones you can do that so that I mean that it means you're kind of always looking for places except it so you could like that there's still not a great deal Bates much better than it was before you can absolutely get by like the convenience stores most importantly thank you right very easy to charge it and so I'm gonna be very fancy for a second you can even Oh didn't even put it on your phone you can even see the lobby yeah it tells you how much your balances so I guess Apple pay has affected Japan in a big way because I think that the push of Apple is a big reason behind why more and more places they're accepting cashless payments by I mean often now you rarely see people or not really but you often see people instead of using a speaker cart they just put their phone on there I'd say in the last night not long yeah I think quite recent Google pay has done exactly those things that will pay and that's had a big push in the last couple of months as well to really get more people using that I am NOT very familiar with Google pay like I knew that Apple pay was gaining traction in Japan and more people have been trying to use it but I have heard some people save it like they're reluctant to use it because like you don't really you're more careless about how much you're using yeah and I think that's why a lot of people in Japan do prefer it like cash because are you're kind of physically aware of how much you're using and then how much you've left so you're not like spending carelessly which is a risk for like digital payments in a way I feel that I think in Australia when I could just beep beep it away there wasn't so much connected to it didn't feel real but when you're holding the cash in your hand and you're giving it away it hurts so much even like I still pay my bills at the convenience store so okay yeah so I receive bills sometimes tax bills and it will be just handing over like if it's a huge amount of money it's like handing over a couple of hundred bill is just it's like ah take it ah and I still pay my rent in in cash they don't accept credit card or elbow transfers for my agency so yeah I pay my rent in cash and one time I went to the ATM and I pressed the wrong button I don't know what I did yeah but I had it giving me my money it was about seven hundred dollars worth and it just went what's going on and it was olinson like a thousand yen bill like $10 bills that's crazy but speaking of like mistakes at the bank the other day this is I've lived in germ head for nine years so the first time I ever really experienced this I was trying to take out like $600 I guess and then for like rent and stuff and then I accidentally like mistyped the amount and it was like I think I wanted like no c'mon Sunday in which is like six hundred thirty dollars ash and instead of putting six hundred thirty dollars I put like six hundred three and then I just put the yen button by accident so it literally gave me six hundred dollars and three n in coins Cindy coins give you coins yes this is the UM like the bank ATMs we have a little slot for coins but I was like how useless isn't it I just miss pressed one button and I cut through who would really bother to take out like a couple of it yet oh wait game is that was like a new revelation for me is like I can take out three yet my bank account one thing I noticed as well saying how like in Tokyo it's very easy to get by now very easy but I can get it's rare I need to draw out money I do for some things you need to have someone you but I try and do as much as I can with sweetie card just mainly not to get coins but one thing I notice we recently had a trip which we had the gem as well we went from Yamagata to Kagoshima so we drove over there were a huge portion of Japan and I I was responsible for booking hotels people on the way and there were some places for the when you get into the country inside in Japan then it really hits home how cash dominated it is there were hotels yeah I had to paying cash a number of people right you had to pay exactly exactly they they didn't have any card service that look that happen I take more often than not when you hit like a ryokan which is like a little traditional Japanese in yeah there are though we went to places that didn't have these chain hotels there were tiny little villages almost and yeah the majority of those lighting all of them potentially were all cash payments only they no kidding things you come to a city then not even need to carry money on you but you could get by getting a transit card and using that for place to place but when if you're exploring a little bit then yeah that's only really gonna be useful for actually getting on trains and buses interesting so yes it's kind of mostly a Tokyo thing that's starting to become more digital I assume it's maybe other parts of the country the biggest yes bigger seas yeah one struggle I've had here well I used to have it is buy things online um when I first came here I didn't really know what to do I didn't know how to not buy things online cuz I didn't have a card I have a cash card a lot of banks have a cash card that's associated with usually a bit debit card you can't use it online no so I don't because I struggled with this initially there I initially count was with the bank called me Soho and with with with all banks you get a cash card which is literally only two used to get cash yeah mr. Howe do too now they give you another debit card to use alongside it but it's it's a company it's like what je pay no one uses it Amazon you can use on Amazon you can use anything but I change banks to muf g.j they give you a Visa debit card which you can use abroad you can use them as you can so yeah some banks if you've only got a regular bank card you can't use oh yeah so I know I think my boyfriend's with shin Se and the only option they had was a prepaid card that you had to preorder like two weeks in advance and they give you the card and then you put money onto the card and then you can use that online but it was yeah for ages I was like how do i I was always using my Australian account which was a little bit of struggle but eventually I managed to get a credit card here so I went like a rocket in credit card right mm-hmm um but I hope I've heard from a lot of my friends that they've been rejected for credit cards yeah what is what is your experience with credit cards here I personally I I applied for a couple I think I don't even hear about your while but I applied for a couple including after about two or three years of being in Japan no I got rejected really I've seen Sam likes it with that mu FG one I don't really feel the need for one looks like you can use it was it difficult for you to get that though cuz i know cuz i guess the difference between that and credit card is you're only using your money if the money is not in your account it will fail right credit card you're using the bank's credit and paying money back i I would love to have been typical yeah but it's like I couldn't find another option all I found was just a credit card order this is missing to be a really common thing because you know myself from the UK if you sign up for a bank account the first thing you get as a debit card yeah where if you want to access all of your money you can you just put it in a machine unit give you all of your money or if you want to spend only the money online you can do instantly right whereas in Japan you naturally only get the cash card and then you have to get most of the times just the credit card and the credit cards worth living so then for example limit so I gone through all of this preparation to buy a computer and I found out that my limit was $1,000 and so I went to apply to go for longer they're like you need to have had this credit card for over six months and you have good credit with us in order to extend your limit yes also I forgot to mention bank books here so when I first signed up for a bit for a bank account here they asked do you want a cash card and I was like of course I wanted a card like what else would I use and they're like okay your cash card will arrive in two weeks and I was like what are we gonna use and tell that point they're like oh you use your bank book so you get a bank book here and you put it into the ATM and it physically prints it onto the book mm-hmm and then you can keep track that way and you can use it as a way to get cash out as well but that just like when I first came here I was like what is going on but interesting I I know like a the the like what does that call it the path suits you Jolie common English a book oh it's Bank okay um so I have that and they always have that option when you're like trying to use the ATM and I like playing your path but I didn't know you could do it without the card though like I've always done it with the cardinal regather yeah you can use it just by itself like as a little magnetic strip is just like it works the same way as a card anybody just prints onto the book as well so I'd never fill my bank account I've never gone online to see my balance I've never done anything online I tried to once and it was the moisture no I tried to register online to it it took forever it took me two hours and at the end of it they're like we'll activate it off to you pick your security questions and then it gave like ten pictures one of them was like a wheel of cheese that was some windmills well event like these are very confusing when you first get here but I think eventually they gradually start to make sense mm-hmm even if they aren't the most sensible things they gradually make sense yeah and I would say my experience with Japanese banks even really a online thing is just a write-off I mean I tried setting up and it worked for a little while then I logged in from the UK if we don't this is yeah you didn't tell us again to the UK you can't do that so it locked it again I have to get something in the you have to apply to get something in the posting amount and it's just it's just such a Plaza online banking is like poke like send up something in the mail I hate to do that to my experience those Japanese banks for for someone coming to Japan and maybe not speaking Japanese you know it's really convoluted really confusing but if you're going to any bright in my experience anyway the people are super nice super helpful so yeah they might not have any you might need to take someone who speaks Japanese with you but in as confusing as it is generally going in there gets a lot of stuff at accomplish I think most of the big banks at least they're like main office in Tokyo for example we they usually have at least one person SP but just don't go to a different branch yeah so go to your branch oh yeah my experience when I first came here Sonia when the bank account was the most convoluted insane thing I've ever done I wanted to go with shin Se but my visa was only six months and so they refused to to serve me but on the internet it said that if you find the right branch and you talk to the right person they'll serve you will be fine oh there was a lie I went to four different branches they were like we can't help you so I went to Utah the Japan pose and I went to the one at noon all because I didn't know you're supposed to go to the one closest to where you live yeah so I went to the one in a window and I was like I want to register and they're like we can't allow you to register with us you have to go to the closest one I was like I don't know what that is they're like we can't we can't help you and eventually I had to do it in like my small little area why no one spoke any English it was all just there wasn't I didn't speak any Japanese it was just kanji everywhere and I was like uh but managed to set it up even without anything just Google Translate managed to set it up okay you can do it too highly stressful but you can power through it if you notice only speaks Japanese they just change your life oh my goodness yeah banks I've always heard like Bank things are just always a hassle but but you know in the I feel like in general things are getting a little bit more foreigner friendly yeah getting English in the banks and one really cool thing you don't you pass your if you're ordering things is the like for example on Amazon in Japan if you're ordering something you can pretty much always choose cash on delivery oh yeah couple dollars extra but if you are struggling having a card that will work online or you don't want to use your maybe American or British or Australian credit card because the rates on Sagat or anything you've always got that option you can just let say the only thing is you have to be there when they arrive or a maid and another really good thing in Japan if you order things from those kind of Amazon websites you can more often than not get them delivered to a convenience store yes yes in cash one day when they come so if you go to if you go to a convenience store in Japan you might notice it's always a bag of golf clubs I've noticed that some kind of to recognize I guess coming go transportation network because I have but they deliver them to convenience stores but you might note in the back of movies or on the side you might notice a bunch of Kabul boxes yet people if they're too busy to be around when the things going to be delivered they just choose it doesn't cost any extra but you can often I know on Amazon not other ones but you can actually choose have this delivered to a convenience store they'll show you all the ones near you and then just use it and then go it's so convenient hence convenience starts they do everything that's good but speaking of payment that I just thought was such a good idea well it's very handy is in you of a credit card you can use a prepaid card that you just yeah buy at the convenience you can buy like Visa do a bunch of them when we just choose how much you want to put on it yeah what's like a debit card that's always right so if you can't get a credit card in Japan or like some people struggle to get a credit card especially if you're not Japanese so in that case you can still get a prepaid card and you can buy anything you want online with that and it it's basically you can do anything with it yeah instead of a credit card so yeah I mean that's a convenient way to get around things yeah I think there's always a way yes if you want to get something even though I think with all things in Japan it can take a little bit of a time to figure out how to get somewhere how to do something and there's always gonna be roadblocks stopping you but there's always gonna be away and you're just got to keep trying definitely sometimes it involves silly things like putting a card in an ATM getting cash out putting another card in the ATM and put in the cash back yeah there's a lot of times but but do you fight in general um it's got like I mean after living in Japan for a couple of years or you know several years do you find it's gotten easier to get around and pay for things thank you I think absolutely it gets easier with time and once you find yourself a bit more established if you've got a job and you're able to apply for a credit card things like that really kind of make your life a lot easier and I'll see and said well if you've set self up with Apple pay or Google pay you've got week on there you can immediate you just do everything with your phone it's very true yeah nowadays you find that like I mean you were here like I more more place example when yeah like I said prior to Apple really kind of pushing the contactless I would use a sweet your card which is great but I could only really use it for travel or the convenience store right likes it more more and I presume or more in the build-up to the Olympics more and more stores will start to accept them because people every time I try to go back home to the UK once a year and one thing I notice is every year it gets easy I need you to pay things with just a contactless kind of expected mail for anything yes it's not about money you just gonna pay for it so yeah I think Japan will continue to to adapt and I think you yeah do you feel did you feel that change well you haven't been here for as long but you know I'm still not I feel like I've become too used to buying things with cash I still rarely even use my city I really really use it for transfer I use cash all the time so yeah I it'd be interesting if Japan continues to evolve and then I get sucked back into using like just the the beep-beep-beep system yeah whatever whatever device I'm using right I'm interested to see how that guys didn't see if I become more careless with my money or if I yeah it's true it's definitely all taught us a lesson in like how to be how to use our money well yeah because you're taking it out of the bank physically and then paying with it yeah but I think we can all look forward to how it's gonna change especially cuz the Olympics are coming up next year and I think they're really trying to expand into more places being able to take credit card or at the very least your suit guy which is your commuters path so it should make it a lot easier for anyone who's coming to Tokyo yeah at least in its not bad now but in the coming years for here hopefully some more international standards definitely definitely but anyway I hope you guys learn something about you know paying for things in Japan it's still largely a cash based society especially if you go into smaller cities and stuff but basically nowadays Tokyo is pretty easy to get around with with a commuter card or even a credit card so not too much to worry about if you're a traveler here I think but have a little cash on hand just in case yeah but anyway thanks so much and hope you enjoyed the video let us know what you guys want to see in a future video and we'll try and talk about some of your ideas thanks so much and see you guys in the next TC tea time [Music]

Channel: Tokyo Creative Talk

Views: 31,796

Rating: 4.9051919 out of 5

Keywords: tokyo creative talk, tokyo creative, payments in japan, tc tea time, tokyo creative tea time, money in japan, cash japan, credit card japan, how to pay japan, japan, japanese, cash in japan, cash in tokyo, tokyo japan, payment system in japan, payment system in tokyo, how to pay in japan

Id: KXZ6vN_fzyM

Length: 25min 40sec (1540 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2019