Credit Card Companies Making It Easier To Pay In Foreign Currencies In Japan

Above, it may be easier to buy things at places like Asakusa's Nakamise Street in the future with credit cards. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan has been known as a "cash-only" nation. Check usage is extremely rare. Credit card and debit card usage was rare, but is now on the rise. The first time I used my Visa debit card in Japan was last February at Narita International Airport. This was only because I already exchanged my remaining yen back into dollars. This was a lot easier to do than when I first visited Japan 13 years ago.

This will be even more true as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gets nearer. In preparation, Japanese businesses are moving towards credit card usage and giving the traveler the choices between being charged in yen or their own foreign currency. In the past, foreign tourists were only allowed to make credit card purchases in yen.

According to The Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun):

An increasing number of credit card companies in Japan are allowing foreign tourists to make purchases in foreign currencies, instead of yen, when they use credit cards. 

With an eye on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, credit card companies are reinforcing their business tie-ups with hotels and other businesses in the tourist industry to encourage foreign tourists to use credit cards. 

On Sept. 12, a British tourist said that when he stayed at the Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel & Towers, he was asked whether he wanted to pay his bill in yen or British pounds. He chose pounds.

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