Prepare more than one way to pay

Give each payment method a job. Suppose you load ¥2,000 in cash onto an existing transport IC card and choose to keep ¥1,000 for cash-only shops. You need ¥3,000 in cash; the ¥2,000 moved into IC is stored value, not a fare already spent.

This is a cash-allocation example, rather than a whole-day budget. Add any new-card deposit, meals, shopping and ATM fees separately. When recording actual fares, do not count the full top-up again as transport spending.

At the till, check the accepted card or IC symbols and say which method you want to use. A transport IC balance, a bank card in a phone wallet and a physical credit card are different payments. If one fails, ask to use cash or another accepted card. Your issuer handles restrictions and limits on an overseas card.

Buying an N’EX or shinkansen ticket by card does not establish how a local gate works. Paying for a paper ticket and touching a card at the gate are separate actions; use the IC/bank-card distinction below when travelling.

At a Seven Bank ATM, insert the card, choose a language, then Withdrawal, the account, PIN and yen amount. Read the fee and currency screens before proceeding; collect cash, card and receipt. English and Korean are available. Contact the issuer for a PIN error; for a limit error, the bank advises trying a smaller amount.

Listed networks include Visa/PLUS, Mastercard/Maestro/Cirrus, UnionPay, American Express, JCB, Discover and Diners Club. Individual cards can still be declined. Visa/Mastercard networks have listed round-the-clock service; other brands have short overnight exclusions, and premises or maintenance can limit access. Use the ATM locator for the machine you need.

Seven Bank lists a ¥100,000 overseas-card transaction ceiling, or ¥30,000 for magnetic-stripe transactions. That ceiling is not a spending target. Start with actual cash needs and your reserve, as in the ¥3,000 allocation above, then compare the offered withdrawal amounts and fees. ATM and issuer charges are separate; repeated smaller withdrawals can each incur a transaction charge.

With Seven Bank’s DCC option, home-currency billing fixes the converted amount at the ATM; JPY settles in yen, with conversion determined later. This option is for the listed Visa/Mastercard networks, not every accepted withdrawal brand. Compare the displayed conversion with your issuer’s terms; neither choice is declared universally cheaper here.

At a supported Seven Bank ATM, choose Recharge E-money, place the IC card or compatible device on the reader, select an amount and insert cash. Top-ups are in ¥1,000 units with no service fee. Leave the card until completion, then take any change and the card. This workflow uses cash, rather than drawing directly from a bank balance or credit card.

Suica and PASMO deduct fares from stored IC balance. Tokyo Metro’s Tap to Ride instead uses an eligible bank card or its registered device at a dedicated reader. Enter and leave with the same card and device. It applies adult paper-ticket fares and excludes JR EAST; a physical card and its phone version are not interchangeable within one journey.

For a regular JR East-issued Suica, up to ¥220 is deducted from the remaining balance before the ¥500 deposit is returned. A ¥1,000 balance therefore returns ¥1,280 including deposit; a ¥100 balance returns only the ¥500 deposit. Welcome Suica has no ordinary balance refund, apart from separate malfunction procedures. A small final top-up matched to remaining journeys and participating-shop purchases leaves less balance to deal with.