128: Low on Cash
Bother – had a close call of running out of money a few days ago. It was a real struggle to get cash and required the use of some of my emergency money in the end…
I was seriously running low on cash during the last few days and only managed to survive because I was lucky enough to stay in very cheap places and live off bread and water so to say (well not really but it sounds good;-)
It’s true though, Japan is a Cash country and it’s serisouly difficult to get cash in big cities let alone the countryside. Few banks accept international cards and there are no money exchange places around in the streets or most banks either.
Well I didn’t appreciate how much money I would spend when I left Tokyo and just how difficult it would be to find an international ATM or a bank that would exchange money while travelling the country. I could not get money near Mt Fuji but didnt really need to cos I had just left Tokyo with plenty of cash. By the time I returned from Takayama I was still fairly “liquid” (sorry that may be a german expression) and thought themoney would last until I would return from the south of Japan.
Apparently not so as already in Unzen I thought a cash-topup might not be a bad idea. There was a slim chance that the local bank would accept international cards (be that switch or visa) but frankly I didnt give it more than a 20% chance when I saw the bank, a seemingly small local bank in a tiny building.. Nevermind the “international ATM or not” question, the bank was closed and there was no access to the ATM.
The next opportunity was Kumamoto two days later. I arrived there on a Sunday which was bad news because the only international ATM near the Station did not accept international cards on weekends or Holidays (also most international ATMs are open 9am to 5pm only, not 24 hours a day).
After asking around I eventually learned that there was a large Hotel nearby umamoto Station that would exchange travellers cheques. Indeed when I got to the hotel there was a sign for TC and Cash exchange (US Dolars and Euros only). I exchanged a 100 US Dollar TC and some Euros that I had accessible and got some 20000 Yen which was enough for a few days. I could have exchanged more but a) I was running short on time since my train to my next destination would depart soon and my other cash/TCs were not that quickly to access and b) I was expecting to find a international ATM soon in the next few days.
Of course I then changed travel plans again and decided to go to Shinjuku Peninsula which meant I would need more cash but I was lucky enough to also in Hiroshima for a day which had a Post Office with an international ATM (large Post Offices best bet for an international ATM) near the train station.
This was the first time since I left home tht I had to use my emergency money and travellers cheque. I can’t believe that this happened in Japan but I guess high travel costs and lack of international ATMs is a bad combination 😉
Tags: Japan, RTW 2005/2006, Takamatsu
saschas
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