"Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson" <ken_nicolson@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:6afefaef.0409011755.747f14bf@posting.google.com...
> "Stuart McGraw" <smcg4191@frii.RemoveThisToReply.com> wrote in message news:<4134af10$0$200$75868355@news.frii.net>...
> > Anyone here have any experience with international
> > postal money orders in Japan?  I understand I can 
> > buy a $700 (max) imo here in the US and exchange 
> > it for yen at a Japanese post office?  Will Japanese 
> > post office's do this happily, or just look at the form 
> > and scratch their head?  What is the exchange rate 
> > (relative to bank rate you see on the internet/
> > newspapers)?
> 
> From your other posts you seem to be wanting the cash for your own
> needs. Why not just load the cash into your credit card account and
> withdraw the cash when you get over here? You'll get a 1.5% cash
> advance fee, but the exchange rate will be very close to the numbers
> you see printed in the newspapers. All Japanese Post Office cash
> machines take international Visa cards, I believe.
> 
> Doing it the other way round in Europe this summer, I got the market
> rate of 133 to 135 yen to the Euro for both purchases and cash
> advances, versus the 142 yen or so that we were charged at a Bureau Du
> Change at the airport.
> 
> Ken

Yes, I am going to do that too.  Well, try anyway.  I have never tried to 
use my Visa card in Japan so I am not 100% sure it will work.  So I'm
still thinking about the IMO's for backup, since I haven't seen any reasons
yet why this is a bad idea.  Also, a 1.5% cash advance fee is still more 
expensive than $3.75 on $700 (~.5%) (assuming the Visa and the Japan 
Post Office exchange rates are the same -- my Visa charges 1% over the 
current exchange rate.)  OK, I admit these are going to be relatively small 
amounts on a few thousand dollars but I would still rather have it in my 
pocket than in Visa's.