"Stuart McGraw" <smcg4191@frii.RemoveThisToReply.com> wrote in message
news:41368d0b$0$201$75868355@news.frii.net...
>
> "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.

Also check with your bank to see what ATM groups they belong to and where
compatible ATMs may be located in Tokyo. Star, Intralink, etc. are probably
accessible from Citibank ATMs in Japan at the least. A couple of years ago I
went through the trouble to open a Citibank account to deposit some money
when I spent a few months there on business, only to find out that I could
have easily withdrawn money at Citibank ATMs using my Bank of America debit
card.

Jeff