FYI, your ATM card probably won't work in Japan
Really important information to know. Something I learned my last time in Japan. And forgot before this time. And it was a mistake. At the airport when we first landed, we took cash out from the ATM. That is always my preferred way of having money when I travel. I prefer not to worry about travelers checks or having a lot of dollars on me to convert. Of course, this time maybe one of those two options would have helped, but in general...
So, ironically, it was my old blog from my around the world trip in 2008 that reminded me of this important fact that most foreign ATMs don't work in Japan. Had I done a refresher of my old blog before traveling, all would have been ok, but no, I decided to read it in the hotel room in Tokyo.
We ended up having to be resourceful in our one day in Tokyo. We had to search a bit for a restaurant for lunch had an English menu, didn't have scary looking plastic food outside, looked authentic AND accepted credit cards. Since we were almost out of cash, and had figured out that there were no Citibank ATMs nearby, paying with a credit card was our best option. Lunch ended up being great and we enjoyed the rest of our day. We got back to the airport that night, immediately took out more cash in case we needed anything in the airport, and for our stops in the airport on the way back. Of course, in all the excitement to finally be getting cash, I messed up the conversion and ended up with 60,000 Yen instead of the 6,000 I had intended. The equivalent of $600 USD. Oops, again. So, much of our trip in Korea was funded by converting Japanese Yen to Korean Won at random banks around the city. Two very important lessons learned.