Tokyo - do you favour paying with cash or card?

[lottie89]

Originally Posted by dipsydoodle

Hi lottie89
We have always used the Halifax clarity wherever we have gone and its always worked well but Japan has got me a little concerned - I so hate cash - does the starling account work well out there? I am thinking about opening an account purely to enable me to get cash if I run out. It seems a slightly cheaper option than withdrawing cash on a credit card but I want to be sure whatever I use that its going to be accepted - any advice greatly appreciated

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I haven’t been yet, but Starling is basically a challenger bank - download the app with your passport or driving licence to hand, and you can apply there and then. It’s free to use abroad, with good fx rates (same as Halifax Clarity I think), and free cash withdrawals. From reading the forums, it works in Japan fine - it’s just a MasterCard.

The app is great - transactions come through immediately with a notification on your phone, including the foreign currency price and the gbp price. No waiting for them to go through and seeing “available balance”.

You just use Touch ID or Face ID to log in to the app, so no filling in passcodes or passwords. I’ve uploaded a couple of screenshots from the app - you can see where I paid for train tickets from a Japanese company and it tells me the exchange rate.

I don’t work for them, just think they’re good!

[dipsydoodle]

Thanks lottie89 - having done a little more research it sounds as tho this might b the way to go - the last thing I want is to end up with no cash because I did my sums wrong
Just noticed your countdown - Hope u have a brilliant time - it would b great if u can let me know how u get on with it