Questions and Answers

Going to Asia in a couple of months. When traveling I typically exchange money by withdrawing from an ATM. Is it safe to do so in Beijing and Tokyo? Are ATMs fairly prevalent near tourist areas?

Should be fine in both cities. If i recall correctly, Beijing should have banks and ATMs everywhere.

I’m not sure why but in China, my Schwab card didn’t work at some ATMs. Usually there’s a few ATMs in a cluster so tried again at the next ATM over and it worked.

Japan can be complicated for ATMs. The ones at the airport work with US cards, otherwise you have to use the ATMs in 7-11 or the post office. If your debit card is a Mastercard, the 7-11 ATMs no longer take them AFAIK, so it’s just the post office.

Post offices are everywhere though, so it’s not horrible. There’s even one in the basement of the Park Hyatt.

Thanks for the good advice. Hoping my Fidelity card won’t have issues.

I’ll try to hit up the ATM at NRT for sure though we’re only there for about 2.5 days so hopefully I don’t need too much.

Sadly, not staying in the Park Hyatt as Viking chose our hotel and it’s not a part of any commonly used points-earning program.

I used the 7-11s with my Schwab card last year with no issues. Enjoy your trip, I really liked Japan.