Japanese society is still very much cash based and you will read this over and over again on many travel sites and blogs. Large companies - such as Bic Camera, Yamada Denki etc. however do accept credit cards - which make perfect sense because that is probably where you will be making your big ticket purchases from. If you are savvy enough, you will also be able to score extra discounts for using the right credit card, in addition to any tax exemption you may be entitled to. Anyway, that's for another post - back onto topic.
I am very particular when it comes to going on holidays and I like to make sure that I have one credit card with a low transaction/ exchange fee (I can use this to pay for my hotel room, or have it as a spare when I go shopping and run out of cash - one trip I did bring extra cash and paid in cash for the hotel room as they do require upfront payment), a second credit card or debit card just in case - and plenty of cash for food, transport and purchases.
I exchange my money at KVB Kunlun, located in the city. You will need a visitor pass (just collect one from the reception) and you may need to buzz at the door to enter.
There are a particular set of lifts that will take you to the floor they are on - in case if you were wondering why not all lifts make it to that floor (is anyone interested in this or? Anyway, let's go with this side track), it is because of peak hour rushes and lift servicing. You wouldn't want to rush to work or rush to leave work to have the whole building wait for the same set of lifts - but you would compromise and share this set of lifts between maybe ten or fifteen floors for instance. In terms of lift servicing, lifts can only service a certain maximum amount of floors (I cannot imagine how a single lift can go like thirty floors, imagine that huge void and a huge bunch of servicing and structural headaches). Digression over. Hope you learned something new!
Moving on - you then get a ticket from the machine and wait in line. There are maybe 20 seats or so available and from memory a water dispensing machine which may or may not have cups available. I'd bring a bottle with me.
My experience is to generally go with the English/ Japanese speaking queue, because all they needed was my driver's licence and were quite hassle free. Once I went with the Chinese queue because it had a shorter waiting time (it ended up being longer because a guy was practising his Chinese with the lady at the counter...), and they made me fill in a weird form and asked for my email and phone (maybe also address? I don't recall) and all this information I never had to provide them in the past. So I'll probably stick to the English queue in the future.
Anyway, their rates are quite good, and as for any processing fees... there are none. I heard there is a minimum or else they charge like $35 or something, but you can just ask them/ call them up to check. I have always exchanged in excess of $2000 each time, so I wouldn't have a clue.
They will ask you if you want to round up or down because they do not have any coins and can only give out notes (so you might need to pay or get back a few dollars). I always opt to round up - I overheard another person rounding up (their friend asked them why they didn't round down, but I'll get onto that for another moment), and you wait maybe 10 minutes for the funds to be released, and they'll ask you to come down and collect the Yen once it's ready.
I would round up because you will probably need the extra Yen at some stage - even if it's just to top up your Suica card or to buy drinks or snacks at a vending machine - which is something you might really need to do at the airport when you are coming home - I personally keep my Yen as an excuse to have another trip back, and they make (I keep saying this again and again) great momentos.
When leaving the building, simply drop your visitor pass into the slot at the gate.
I haven't tried exchanging my money anywhere else because they need to order in the Yen and usually don't have stock so it is a pain. This place is fairly convenient and well known to be a good place to exchange Yen, so why not - I would also recommend going early or at not-so-busy times (use your own judgment for this) to minimise your wait, because when they are busy, they are really busy. They usually only have about 3 people at the counter, so be prepared.
So do bring:
- Photo ID such as a driver's licence
- Cash - USD, AUD, RMB are generally accepted, make sure you have some loose change in case you want to round up - otherwise your only option is to round down and usually that will be tricky in any other currency other than AUD I would imagine
- Anyone who is traveling with you - because you have someone to keep you company, and you can both exchange money at the same time - win win.
- And always remember to ask what the rate is before you decide to exchange - you do have a choice to exchange if you want, and make sure it is the right rate (eg. same rate as what they quoted you on the phone or on their website) so you are happy!
Disclaimer
I was not sponsored in any way to write this post. Please see my Disclaimer page for more information. Please note this post is solely based on my own personal experience and if you have any feedback for this particular company to kindly direct it at their team.
Do you know of another alternative or perhaps better place to exchange AUD to JPY? Please let me know in the comments below. I'd love to know!
Yours,
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