Thanks again for all your help everyone!

I just got back to the US from the past two months in Japan.

If you are staying in Tokyo... then you'll find an awful lot of places take credit cards. If you go out into the boonies..... it is a cash society.

Traveler's checks are almost impossible to cash outside of big cities.

The only thing slower than dealing with Japanese banks is ....... hum.... I don't know what is. :mtongue: Try to not need to find the answer to this question.

Using 10, 000 円 bills is no problem whatsoever ....even for a stick of gum in a Lawsons (which ARE everywhere).

best,

...............john

I have used my credit card numerous times here for amounts under 10,000 yen, and I have always, always had to sign. Maybe it depends on the card/shop.

In Tokyo at least, Shinsei bank ATMs, which are found in many subway stations and sometimes next to branches of Starbucks, also take foreign cards.

The only people I have ever come across who will grumble if you give them a 10,000 note for a small purchase are the ladies at train station kiosks- they do not like it. Anywhere else though and you are fine.