How to Pay in Japan — Cash, IC Card, and Credit Card Explained for First-Time Visitors
Japan has three payment systems that tourists need to understand: cash, IC cards, and credit cards. Each one works in some situations and fails in others. Using the wrong one at the wrong moment — arriving at a cash-only restaurant with only a card, or trying to pay for transit with a credit card — creates friction that's easily avoided with the right preparation.
Here's how each system works, where each one is accepted, and how to use them together efficiently.
Cash — still essential, not optional
Japan's card acceptance has improved significantly in recent years. That improvement doesn't change the fact that cash remains necessary for a meaningful portion of the experiences tourists come for.
Cash is required or strongly preferred at: small local restaurants (ramen shops, tempura counters, neighborhood izakayas), shrine and temple entrance fees, market stalls and festival vendors, many taxis, smaller neighborhood shops, and vending machines that don't accept IC cards.
The specific moment that catches most first-time visitors: arriving at the register of a cash-only restaurant after eating and reaching for a card.
The resolution is a nearby ATM visit — which works, but is avoidable with ¥10,000 to ¥20,000 in the wallet before it's necessary.
How much to carry: ¥20,000 to ¥30,000 on arrival, withdrawn from the 7-Eleven ATM in the Narita or Haneda arrivals hall. This covers the first several days with buffer. Top up as needed — when your cash drops below ¥5,000, not when it reaches zero.
ATMs that accept foreign cards: 7-Eleven ATMs are the most reliable. Japan Post Bank ATMs work at most post offices. Regional bank ATMs (Mizuho, MUFG, Sumitomo) are inconsistent with foreign cards. If a machine doesn't work, find a 7-Eleven — there's almost always one within 10 minutes in any urban area.
ATM fees: 7-Eleven ATMs charge ¥110 per foreign card transaction. Your home bank may add 1.5 to 3% foreign transaction fees and a flat ATM fee. Withdraw larger amounts less frequently (¥20,000 rather than ¥5,000 four times) to minimize fixed fees.
Denominations: Japanese ATMs dispense ¥10,000 notes. Break these at a convenience store immediately after withdrawing — buy something small and get change in ¥1,000 notes. Many small shops have difficulty making change for ¥10,000 on an ¥800 purchase.
IC card (Suica / Pasmo) — the most useful payment tool in Japan
The IC card is a prepaid contactless card that works on virtually every train, subway, and bus in Japan. It also works at most convenience stores, many vending machines, some taxis, and an increasing number of restaurants and shops.
The key advantage over individual tickets: tap in at the entry gate, tap out at the exit gate, and the correct fare is automatically deducted.
No fare calculation, no ticket machines, no exact change required.
Suica vs Pasmo: functionally identical. Both work on all transit systems throughout Japan. Suica is issued by JR East; Pasmo by the Tokyo metro operators. Either one works everywhere. Get whichever is more conveniently available when you arrive.
How to get one:
Option 1 — Digital Suica: if you have an iPhone 7 or later or a compatible Android with NFC, add Suica to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet before leaving home. Open Wallet, tap the + button, search for Suica, load money via the app. You arrive in Japan with a working IC card already on your phone. This is the smoothest option.
Option 2 — Physical card at the airport: IC card machines are at every major station. Select English, choose "New Card," load a minimum of ¥1,000 (the card itself costs ¥500 as a deposit, refundable when you return it). Load ¥3,000 to start.
Where IC cards work: all JR trains, all Tokyo Metro and Toei subway lines, all private railway lines in major cities, most city buses, 7-Eleven / FamilyMart / Lawson, most vending machines, many taxis (look for the IC card sticker on the window).
Where IC cards don't work: Shinkansen fares (the IC card covers the local fare portion of a Shinkansen journey but not the reserved seat charge — Shinkansen tickets are separate), long-distance highway buses, some rural buses.
Keep the balance above ¥500: if balance drops below the fare for your next journey, the gate won't open. Check balance at any gate display or convenience store register. Top up at any IC card machine or through the Suica app.
Train and subway fares: IC card (easiest), individual ticket (works but slow).
Convenience stores (7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson): IC card, credit card, cash. All three work.
Chain restaurants (McDonald's, Yoshinoya, Sukiya): credit card and IC card increasingly accepted. Cash always works.
Small local restaurants: cash only in many cases. Don't assume card works without seeing a card reader.
Shrine and temple entrance fees: cash. No exceptions at smaller sites.
Department stores: credit card, IC card, cash.
Taxis: increasingly card-friendly in cities. Look for the card/IC sticker. Rural taxis often cash only.
Vending machines: IC card works on most modern machines. Cash (coins) works on all. Credit cards rarely.
Credit cards — useful but with specific limitations
Credit cards work reliably at hotels, department stores, major tourist attractions, chain restaurants, and most places that serve significant international tourist volume. They don't work reliably at the small, independent restaurants and shops that many tourists specifically come to Japan to experience.
Which cards work: Visa and Mastercard are the most widely accepted international networks. American Express works at most department stores and hotels but less commonly at smaller merchants. JCB is the dominant Japanese card network and is accepted almost universally domestically.
Foreign transaction fees: standard credit cards charge 1.5 to 3% on foreign transactions. On a ¥150,000 week of card spending at 2%, that's ¥3,000 in fees — roughly $20. Travel cards with no foreign transaction fees (Charles Schwab, Wise, Revolut, many Chase and Capital One cards) eliminate this. Worth checking your card terms before traveling.
Dynamic currency conversion — always decline: at some card terminals, you'll be asked whether to pay in JPY or your home currency. Always choose JPY. The "pay in your home currency" option (called dynamic currency conversion, or DCC) applies an exchange rate set by the merchant that's consistently worse than your bank's rate — typically 3 to 7% worse. The JPY option lets your bank apply their rate, which is better in almost every case.
Contactless credit cards: contactless (tap-to-pay) is increasingly available at Japanese terminals, particularly in the past two years. If your card has a contactless symbol, it often works at terminals showing the same symbol without inserting the chip. Not universal yet, but common enough in convenience stores and chain retailers.
QR code payment (PayPay and others)
Japan's QR code payment ecosystem — dominated by PayPay, with Line Pay, d-payment, and others — is widely used domestically. For international tourists, it's less accessible than IC cards or credit cards because most QR payment apps require a Japanese phone number or bank account for initial setup.
PayPay has an international version that accepts some foreign credit cards for top-up, but the setup process involves steps that are easier to complete before arriving in Japan. If this payment method interests you for the acceptance at smaller merchants where credit cards aren't accepted, research the current international setup process before departure — the specifics change as PayPay updates its international user policies.
For most first-time visitors, the combination of IC card + cash + credit card covers all payment situations without requiring the additional setup that QR payment apps involve.
The practical system — how to use all three together
The payment approach that produces the least friction across a Japan trip:
IC card for all transit — trains, buses, convenience stores. Keep ¥3,000 to ¥5,000 loaded and top up when it drops below ¥1,000.
Cash for all restaurant visits where you're unsure — if a restaurant doesn't have a visible card reader, assume cash only. Having ¥5,000 to ¥10,000 in the wallet before each meal eliminates the post-meal discovery problem.
Credit card for hotels, department stores, and larger purchases — where card acceptance is reliable and the purchase amount makes the convenience worthwhile.
Never choose "pay in home currency" — when any terminal asks, always select JPY.
Japan's payment landscape is more straightforward than its reputation suggests once you understand the structure: IC card handles transit and convenience stores, cash handles small restaurants and shrines, credit card handles hotels and department stores. The overlap between these three covers everything.
The friction that first-time visitors experience with payments almost always comes from one of two sources: not having enough cash when a place is cash-only, or not knowing that dynamic currency conversion should always be declined. Knowing both before arrival eliminates most of it.
This topic is part of the broader travel structure explained in the Japan Travel Decision Structure guide.
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