How to Pay for Things in Japan | 317

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, explorers. Welcome to episode 317 of the TDR now podcast. We're the first english speaking podcast focusing on asian theme parks like Tokyo Disney, Universal Studios Japan. If you listened to our last episode, Ghibli park. If you haven't listened to that, make sure you go and do that. And you can find us up on our [email protected], also all over social media under the same name. I'm one of your hosts, Chris. I am. Well, I am TDR Explorer, I suppose, and see me all over YouTube, social media, all that stuff. I'm usually stuffing my face or screaming about spiders or things of that nature. And joining, as always, is the wonderful Patricia. [00:00:45] Speaker B: Hey, guys. I'm the one staying out of the I have a love hate relationship with the heat, but kind of staying out of the heat. We work with the tourism convention. We're part of the team starting a new project to get english information out on events happening in the city under Discover urayasu on instagram. My personal account's under Dream suites love, and I'm the one exploring all the ice cream and shaved ice right now just to cool down this japanese hot, hot summer heat. And speaking of ice cream and kakigori, it costs money, right? [00:01:32] Speaker A: It does. You have to pay for it. [00:01:34] Speaker B: Yeah. So we're going to talk about that today. [00:01:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So I thought we could talk about just how to pay for things in Japan, because. Well, I don't think we've talked about this for quite some time now. And since, I guess since tourism reopened, and particularly 2020, you know, things changed around the world, of course, and payment methods definitely changed everywhere. And Japan was no different. And we're kind of in this weird lack of a better term, hot mess of payment options. I guess. It's not like, it's not. It's not too bad. [00:02:18] Speaker B: It works. I mean, I feel like it might be more of a hot mess for people who are visiting. Yeah. For us, you know, there's no problems. You know, it depends. [00:02:29] Speaker A: It depends on who you ask, right? Sure. [00:02:31] Speaker B: Like, what problems do you face for paying with things? [00:02:36] Speaker A: Well, I guess this is, like, this is not necessarily for paying for things, but it's more, I guess, like, this is, like, fresh in my mind right now. [00:02:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:45] Speaker A: Your bank accounts in Japan. So obviously, to open a bank account in Japan, you need to live here. Like, you have to be a legal resident. [00:02:51] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:02:53] Speaker A: I don't know when this law went into effect. There's a law now where if you don't have a resident like a valid resident card, the banks can basically close your accounts. [00:03:03] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:03:04] Speaker A: I'm kind of in this weird limbo right now. I'm waiting for my visa to come back because, you know, it takes time for things to be updated and whatnot. And so when I went, like, I guess really quickly, how it works when you're updating your resident card, if you need to renew it, you could submit everything on the very last day of your renewal, like, the last day that your visa is valid, and then immigration automatically gives you two months extend. A two month extension as they process it. Right. That's typically what I do just to kind of move my. Because then whenever my visa is approved, it's approved on the day they approve it. It's like, let's say my original date was June 1. Let's just say that I submit it and they give me an extension till August 1. Right? [00:03:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:57] Speaker A: Like, automatically as they're renewing it. And let's say they approve it on January. On July 1. So my new visa will be valid until January, July 1, the following year. Right. [00:04:09] Speaker B: Okay. [00:04:09] Speaker A: So that's kind of how it works. So I kind of do that because I don't worry too much about my visa not being renewed. So I kind of do that. I play that fun game. But what happens is all the bank accounts I have, they have a copy of my resident card, which I legally have to give, I think, and they start contacting me saying, hey, we need a new copy of your resident card because the current one we have on file is expired. And they usually, like, usually for like, a month, they're kind of like, whatever about it. Little laissez faire. But then after about a month, they start kind of borderline harassing you. Like, hey, where is this? If you don't get it to us soon, like, the, like, your account is basically going to be frozen, is what they tell you. [00:05:00] Speaker B: Wait, is this the same at every bank? It can't be. [00:05:04] Speaker A: It's. [00:05:04] Speaker B: What bank do you use? [00:05:06] Speaker A: I. You. I use Shinsei bank and also the Sony bank as well. It's a relatively new law. [00:05:16] Speaker B: I've never gotten contacted by my bank. [00:05:20] Speaker A: Yeah, also, like, it depends on your, like, it's for the duration of your visa, is the thing. So if you're. If you're on a, like, a longer term one, then they might not even look at it. Like, I don't know, it's more of a recent thing. [00:05:34] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:05:35] Speaker A: So. [00:05:36] Speaker B: Oh, so I have to go to the bank. [00:05:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's kind of annoying. [00:05:40] Speaker B: Can you just do it online. [00:05:42] Speaker A: Probably depends on your bank, which shouldn't say I'm able to, but yeah. Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. [00:05:48] Speaker B: Oh, like, there can be some problems. Oh, okay. So, like, banking stuff? Well, I guess, like, banking stuff for, for foreign residents is always like, a little, like, there's, you know, the timing of going there is a hassle and then, like, paperwork can be a hassle. [00:06:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna sign up for. I guess we'll kind of talk about this. But this is more for people that live in Japan. [00:06:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:14] Speaker A: I wanna get myself a PayPay account. [00:06:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I have that. I never use it. Cause I'm like, where can I use it? But my child, I guess, like the teens use it all the time for pocket money. So I'd be like. Like, my, my husband will sometimes send me payPay. He's like, use this paypal to get lunch. And I'm like, I don't know where to use it. And I end up sending it to the teen instant. I'm like, you use it? Because I don't know where to go. The only place I know is gong cha, but I rarely go there. [00:06:38] Speaker A: PayPay is no, like, almost every single place that takes some sort of electronic payment will take Paypay. [00:06:47] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna. [00:06:48] Speaker A: It's so widely spread. [00:06:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:51] Speaker A: And the reason why I wanna go to PayPay is because I currently use line pay, which is pretty much the same thing. But line pay is shutting down next. [00:07:00] Speaker B: Year because paper is so popular. [00:07:03] Speaker A: It's so annoying because I love using line pay. It's just, I set it all up and it works and it's. I can transfer money from my bank account into it and it's perfectly fine, but it's going away. So I'm probably just gonna get, like, paypay. The other one is like D, but I. Which is another QR code payment thing. [00:07:22] Speaker B: But yeah, I feel like PayPal. More widespread. [00:07:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Anyway, most people that are listening probably don't live here, so it's not really relevant to people that don't live here. Yeah, I guess more for people that are visiting. What do you do? Because I've also been seeing, oh, my goodness, this might be like, this is me getting. Maybe getting on my soapbox a little bit or being like, old man shakes his fist at the cloud. I'm seeing so many tiktoks of people trying to give advice on how to pay for things and there's just so much misinformation like, people are, like, I get, like, it's great that people are able to get information out easier. Like, lots of, like, we get different opinions and everything. I think that's great. [00:08:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:11] Speaker A: Then there's also. People will talk about things when they have no clue how it works or don't understand it. [00:08:17] Speaker B: The worst offenders that you see telling. [00:08:21] Speaker A: People like, they're still. People are still making TikTok saying, you must have cash for everything, because. Nope. Almost no place takes credit cards like, that kind of stuff, which is not true anymore. [00:08:33] Speaker B: It's not true anymore. But I. [00:08:35] Speaker A: It was true. [00:08:35] Speaker B: You should still have cash. [00:08:37] Speaker A: Yes, you should. But don't rely just on. [00:08:41] Speaker B: Yeah, you don't need to have. You don't need to rely only on it anymore. [00:08:46] Speaker A: You don't need to carry $1,000, the equivalent of $1,000 in cash on you anymore. You don't need to do that. [00:08:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Although you would be pretty safe in Japan doing that. [00:08:54] Speaker A: Yeah. But you don't really need to. [00:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:57] Speaker A: You know, unless you're buying. I don't know. For whatever reason, unless you need to do a big payment in cash for some reason. Don't tell me. Don't tell me what it's for. [00:09:06] Speaker B: But no, but, like, I have had friends visiting and fairly recently, and I think because I think in most countries, like my home country as well, everything has become really cashless. And you don't realize that some places still, and these are tourist areas as well, like places like Hakone. I had a friend who was in Hakone, and she didn't have cash. And she's like, I can't eat. I can't find know. She was trying to find a place to take out money, and the 711 was, like, pretty far, and she had to, like, trek out there because she couldn't buy anything. So it is really, really important to have cash, like, even in tourist areas, because sometimes it's cash only. [00:10:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:01] Speaker B: And some. A lot of restaurants, like, mom and pop shops, like, will be cash only. [00:10:07] Speaker A: Yeah. And I guess, like, really quickly again, back. Back on. Like, the, like, outdated information that people will give. Like, there's a lot of outdated information about the IC cards. Telling people, like, telling people that you have to get a physical cards, like, you don't have to. [00:10:23] Speaker B: No, no, no. [00:10:24] Speaker A: Yeah, not anymore. Which we'll talk about and stuff. So this is all stuff that is relevant for right now. We're gonna kind of go through the practical things that you need to do as a visitor. [00:10:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And so you should always when you are watching a video or something, check the date when it came out because you're always going to want to look for more recent information. Right? [00:10:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And, like, the thing is, like, these tiktoks I've been seeing are relatively recent. It's just, it's mostly people that have visited once, and they kind of, they kind of present their singular experience, as this is the only experience, which is really not how it works. So, yeah. Get different opinions and. [00:11:12] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. [00:11:14] Speaker A: And maybe listen to people that actually live here or visited quite a few times, because we know how this stuff works. [00:11:20] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:11:21] Speaker A: Usually, anyway. But, yeah, let's talk about cash first, I guess. Um, the big myth, like, Japan's like, a cash only society. That's not the case anymore. It used to be, like, it's still. [00:11:37] Speaker B: Heavily cash based, though. [00:11:40] Speaker A: Yeah. But definitely not as much as it once was. Especially. [00:11:43] Speaker B: It's much easier to use. Especially, like, things like paypay. It's much easier to use. [00:11:46] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. It's much easier. You still should have cash on you. Like, 100%. You need some on you because just, like, the things that you just mentioned, there's gonna be, like, small, little mom and pop shops or things that are, like, smaller establishments are. There's a good chance they may only take cash. Right. So it's always good to have that on you. [00:12:09] Speaker B: It's always good to have in case of an emergency as well. Like, if, like, I don't know, their payment method goes down. That's like, the other payment method, or like, even. [00:12:18] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. [00:12:19] Speaker B: Some older taxis, like, sometimes when it's like, an older taxi will ask, oh, do you take card if it doesn't have, like, the little sign up? Because some of them might not. Usually they do, but it's kind of good to check, you know, before you get in the taxi. [00:12:34] Speaker A: Or, you know, what happened last week with the whole. [00:12:39] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The whole thing went down right like that. What's it called? The crowdsource or what? [00:12:45] Speaker A: Crowd, yeah. Piece of software that a lot of companies worldwide relied on went down, and it caused chaos across the world. And let me tell you, I was at USJ when that happened. [00:12:59] Speaker B: Oh, no, it went down, right? Because I think I remember seeing something about that. Yeah. [00:13:04] Speaker A: So what happened at USJ was all payment methods went down, so all, like, no one could pay for anything. Food, merchandise, nothing. And so they had to close everything. Well, except, well, the attraction still ran just fine. Like, all that was running, it was just merchandise and food couldn't pay for it. For anything. Like, all the systems were down. Um, so they actually started wheeling out. Like, they started wheeling out, you know, those big metal, tin, like, metal tubs that you put ice in and put the drinks in. They started wheeling those out and taking like, bottled drinks from everywhere, putting them out there and just saying, cash only to buy bottle drinks. It was just, it was a hot mess. So, like, this is when you need cash, because sometimes things go wrong because somebody presses update on a vital piece of software and makes half the world's systems go down, you know? So having cash is a good thing. [00:14:08] Speaker B: And there is a good thing until it's not. [00:14:13] Speaker A: So are we gonna talk about the new bills? [00:14:15] Speaker B: Yes, there's new bills, and we've had new coins in the past, and sometimes some machines still won't take the new coins, which is like, really annoying. But yeah, there's brand new bills. They're really, I guess, cute looking. It's fine. But not all the machines. And, you know, Japan's well known for its vending machines or, you know, like the 711 and a lot of places haven't have. Now the automatic, you put the money in yourself, you don't give it to the cashier. So, yeah, it might not work, which is an issue. [00:14:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that's within the last month these came out, which is hilarious. Yeah. For, I guess, cash for bill denominations. There's. The most common ones are ¥1000 bills, ¥5000 bills, and ¥10,000 bills. Yeah, those are the most common ones. Now, if you get cash from your bank, from overseas, like if you're in Canada or the US or somewhere else, if you get cash ahead of time from your bank, which is a good thing to do, um, because you'll probably get a good rate, and then that way you have cash on hand, so you don't have to worry about it when you land. [00:15:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:33] Speaker A: Um, you might get a ¥2000 bill, which is incredibly uncommon. Oh, like, it's uncommon to the point where some people will be confused, like why you're giving them a ¥2000 bill. Because some young people have never seen. [00:15:48] Speaker B: Yeah, some young people haven't. They don't have the experience with it. Wow. [00:15:52] Speaker A: But rest assured, it is legal tender. They have to take it. It is legal tender. [00:15:58] Speaker B: Speaking of taking legal tender, I don't know how it is in Canada. In my country, not everywhere takes legal tender. If you have a $50 bill or a $100, oh my goodness, you might get rejected, which was like a huge culture shock to me. In Japan, it's fine. If it's a smaller business, or if it's like the cafe in my building and I'm paying with a Ichiman yen bill would be the equivalent of dollar 100 bill. Well, not anymore, but for us it would be. [00:16:33] Speaker A: Dollar 100 is easy enough to remember. It's around there. [00:16:37] Speaker B: I would ask first, can I use this bill? Is this okay? And usually the answer is yes. Yeah, but you won't have any issue at department stores or just shopping in general, you won't have any issues using larger bills, so don't be afraid to use a larger bill. [00:16:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it's the same thing in Canada as the US. If you're paying for something like a smaller amount with a dollar 50 or $100 bill placed in Canada will just flat out say no, which is wild. But here in Japan, like, you could pay for a bag of chips that is 100, some yen and give ¥10,000 and it's perfectly fine. [00:17:17] Speaker B: Yeah, it's no problem. [00:17:19] Speaker A: It's not an issue whatsoever, so don't worry about that. Except for what you just mentioned about some smaller shops, like little cafes or mom and pop shops. They might not be able to take it just because they don't have enough change. [00:17:33] Speaker B: Yeah, and usually I'll taxis as well. We'll usually ask in advance, oh, is Ichimanyan okay? You know, and they'll say yes or no. Usually. Usually yes. But just in case, we like to ask ahead of time. [00:17:46] Speaker A: Yeah. And then for coins, Japan's gonna have a lot. When you start using cash, it's gonna be a never ending struggle with the coins. [00:17:56] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. [00:17:57] Speaker A: So make sure you have a little coin purse. Like go to daiso, get yourself a little coin purse, because that's gonna become your best friend. [00:18:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And you use those coins whenever you see, like, whenever you're like, let's say you're getting a drink at the convenience store or something, and you see the little coin machine, like, to pay, you can put the coins, but use all your coins, you know. [00:18:17] Speaker A: Yes. [00:18:17] Speaker B: And get rid of them. [00:18:18] Speaker A: That's what I do. [00:18:19] Speaker B: Like supermarket. Right? Like, they. Now they have the machines where you just pay yourself. Just like throw those coins in there. [00:18:25] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%. And the coin denominations are. There's ¥1 coins, which are very annoying. ¥1 coins, which are small. Are they aluminum? They're very light. [00:18:38] Speaker B: They're really light. [00:18:39] Speaker A: Yeah, they're very, very tiny and very light. Very annoying. I've seen people visiting like, fumble with their change and then they drop ¥1 coins. And there was this one girl I don't know how old she was. She must have been in her early twenties. Her boyfriend or whoever she was with, they looked like they were a couple. They were trying to pay for something, and they dropped a couple yen coins, and he was gonna pick it up, and she just said, don't worry about it. They're worthless. [00:19:06] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. [00:19:07] Speaker A: And I stood there, I'm like, okay. [00:19:09] Speaker B: You still shouldn't leave stuff on the floor, though. [00:19:12] Speaker A: Just pick it. Yeah, like, I know it's annoying, but. [00:19:16] Speaker B: Like, pick it up and it's like littering, you know? It's like, don't do that. [00:19:20] Speaker A: That's very strange. Then there's the ¥5 coins, which is like bronze with a hole in it. And there's the ¥10 coins, which are a little bit bigger. There's like, solid copper, I suppose. There's no hole in it. And then it goes to ¥50. [00:19:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:39] Speaker A: ¥50 coin, which is silver with a hole in it. And then it goes to ¥100 coin. [00:19:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:44] Speaker A: And then a ¥500 coin. [00:19:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:48] Speaker A: So there you go. There's a really quick rundown of our coins, but, yeah. Um, using the machines to get rid of your coins and paying for stuff is really good to do. Um, because also, too, what will happen, um, especially at, like, place like 711 and whatnot that have the machines. [00:20:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:08] Speaker A: If you do your math correctly, you can convert a lot of your coins and get change back in bills because they'll give you bills back depending on. [00:20:15] Speaker B: Do they give you bills back? [00:20:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, like, if you need to round to a, like a proper, like, if you need to round to a thousand yen. [00:20:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:23] Speaker A: ¥2000 or something. Like, if you do the math with the coins, you could do that. Like, I've done that a few times. [00:20:31] Speaker B: That's awesome. Okay. I got to try that just to. [00:20:33] Speaker A: Like, get it to a nice thousand yen and change or 2000 or whatever it is. [00:20:40] Speaker B: Okay. [00:20:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Learn those coins because you're going to be using them a lot. [00:20:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:48] Speaker A: And then I guess for taking cash out, this, this hasn't really changed in a long time. But ATM's are pretty much everywhere. Check with your bank to make sure if you can pull money out from your I bank account from home. If you want to pull money out, ATM's from like 711 lost and family mart or even Japan post. A lot of these places will take international cards. You probably don't want to pull money out on a credit card because you're going get. You're going to get charged a lot of interest. So not the best idea. Something that, like, a card that you can pull money out of your bank account from back home is the best. [00:21:28] Speaker B: Uh huh. [00:21:29] Speaker A: Um, the other one is also, if you get yourself like a. Like a Visa debit or master debit. Mastercard debit card, which is like, what wise is, which I've talked about before, um, wise. And also, um, revolut is pretty much the same thing as wise. And you can put cash, like, japanese currency on these cards and then pull out the cash and ATM's when you're in Japan. Um, so that's also another thing you can do. Um, but of course, with your bank back home, just make sure you check, like, what fees and stuff are, because it's. It's. It's going to differ for everybody. Right. Every bank is different depending on what part of the world you're in. So I'll leave that on you, dear listener, to do your research. Otherwise we'll be here forever. Um, yeah, cash. Cash is sort of king, I guess kind of is. [00:22:21] Speaker B: Although I have seen a. I like one shop in particular in close Sahibia, which is cashless. Cute little cafe, but yeah, you can use cash almost anywhere. [00:22:33] Speaker A: Yeah, there's been a lot of manless places opening up, like little kiosks that are. There's no one there. It's all honor system, but you pay with cashless payments. [00:22:43] Speaker B: Oh, like the 24 hours gyozo shop? [00:22:46] Speaker A: Yeah, there's actually one near me. Yeah, like, places like that. [00:22:51] Speaker B: It has like, cameras and stuff. So. Yeah, like, I'm pretty sure there's like, some security system in place, so. [00:22:57] Speaker A: Yeah, cash, cash, cash, cash, cash, cash. Have some on you at least. [00:23:01] Speaker B: Yeah, just have. I would. I would always have cash with me just in case. [00:23:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I usually do too. Like, for someone who lives here, I usually. I'm probably. Well, I'm not too worried about getting robbed. I'm not carrying thousands of dollars on me, people. I usually carry, like, at least Ichiman on me, like, in cash, just in case. [00:23:21] Speaker B: Like, it's very common. [00:23:22] Speaker A: Like if. Yeah, again, like, I don't know, for whatever reason, something happens and, like, the systems are down. I need money. Um, okay, I have a story. [00:23:33] Speaker B: Okay. [00:23:33] Speaker A: I was actually without money for a little bit because, well, this makes me kind of mad. My Sony bank or. No, no, no. Line pay decided over that. This was the last long weekend we had. Over the long weekend, lion pay decided its systems for transferring money into the year account from your bank account. Was going for maintenance for four days over the weekend. [00:24:02] Speaker B: Oh. [00:24:03] Speaker A: So I couldn't put money into the account from my bank account, so I ran out and I ran out of money because I didn't, I didn't know that because I didn't think of that. And I was like, oh, I don't have enough money on this. I'm going to reload it and I need to pay for something. I was like, I can't reload this. So I had to use cash. Very annoying. [00:24:25] Speaker B: Good to have cash. [00:24:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess, like the next thing, the next best. Well, the next thing that you should have in addition to cash are IC cards or transportation cards. So these aren't very, like, these types of cards are not common outside of Asia. [00:24:46] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:24:46] Speaker A: It's definitely not a thing in Canada, and I'm pretty sure it's not really a thing in most parts of the US. [00:24:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think so. [00:24:54] Speaker A: I think places in, like, the UK have it, like transportation. [00:25:00] Speaker B: Transportation, yeah. [00:25:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So these are preloaded. Like, emoney is the best way to describe it. And they're used mainly for transportation, thing for transportation. So you don't have to calculate fares or like, figure out what your fare is. And all this stuff, it's all just done for you. And the most common ones, which I'm sure if you've been listening to this podcast, you probably know these already. But for those that don't, the most common ones are Suica and passimo. Years ago, it used to make a difference of which one you got. [00:25:37] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Yeah, back in the dark ages, I remember that. [00:25:41] Speaker A: It's just like, Suica only worked here. [00:25:43] Speaker B: And junior were separate. Yeah. [00:25:45] Speaker A: Hasma only worked here, and then, like, every region of Japan had their own version of them, so they would only work in those regions, which was confusing. Well, thankfully, most of Japan now is all one system. Last I checked. I think Okinawa is the only outlier now. [00:26:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I would check when going into the countryside just to be sure. Or I would ask, hey, can I use this just in case? [00:26:13] Speaker A: Yeah. So ic cards, it's good to have. You can have, I think when I looked it up, Suica and I think it's the same for password. The only issue with them is you can't have a ton of money on them. You can only put up to ¥20,000, which is like $200 roughly. Um, so, like, they. They're not meant to be carrying a huge balance on them. [00:26:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:38] Speaker A: And the thing is, once you put money on it, you can't get it back. You have to spend it. [00:26:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:44] Speaker A: Once that money is on there, you don't get it back. [00:26:46] Speaker B: Um, it's pretty easy to spend though, because while they are mainly for transportation, if you're at like, for example, at any station, there's especially like, in this region, there's like, um, atres. Usually it's like a type of shopping plaza next to the train station. You can use it at all the shops there. Oh, yeah. So you can use it at a lot of places to pay for things. It's not like a massive big deal. [00:27:10] Speaker A: No, you can, for a place to use it, pretty much anywhere that takes a credit card will take an IC card. [00:27:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:17] Speaker A: Vending machines, stores, all the convenience stores take them. The theme parks take them. Like Tokyo Disney. You can pay for everything with IC Cardinal. Um, same with Universal Studios Japan. Everything is like, you can pay for iC cards. It's also good for, um, if you have kids and you don't, you don't want to give them cash, you can just give them an IC card. [00:27:40] Speaker B: It's really fun for them too. They go like beat. [00:27:43] Speaker A: Yeah. So you can put, you know, pre, like a certain amount of money on it. Then they just have to worry about the card and don't have to worry about a currency that, especially if you're visiting. That might be a lot to, like. Some kids may not grasp it right away or. Sure, you know, you know, it all depends, like how old they are and everything. But, um. I know, I like, I know people here would just give their kids a transportation card. Okay, here you go. There's ¥5000 on it, and that's your allowance or whatever, so. Or payPal. That too. I guess that's more recent, right? Yeah. So I see cards. So they're, there's two ways to go about this. You can get the physical cards, which they've been easier to get now because there was that shortage. There's a shortage with the chips that seems to be mostly resolved now. So you can go to like the major train stations. If you just go to the junior website, they have the latest information on where you can get them. So you can get, so I guess there's kind of two versions. You can get like a regular Suica passimo card, which is like, for anybody, like if you're living here or visiting, it doesn't matter. You can get it. You do have to pay like a ¥500 deposit on it, and then you can put money on it and start using the physical card right away. There's another one for visitors only that you get the airport. [00:29:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:16] Speaker A: And you can order these online, I think, like, places like Klook sell it and like, you just pay for it and then you pick it up somewhere at the airport. Or you can pick them up at like, the different train stations at the airports. Just check the airport website and it should be able to tell you where to get them. And these are usually, like the welcome Suica cards they're called. And the only difference with these ones is they expire. So you put money on it and then you're. You keep the card and then the card after. I think it's 28 days. The card just doesn't work anymore because it's meant for a short term use. [00:29:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:58] Speaker A: So if you're planning to come back a lot, you probably don't want to get that. But it is something, you know, you could get it if you're someone that wants to collect stuff because it comes with a unique design. [00:30:09] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. Yeah. [00:30:11] Speaker A: So that's also kind of a cute little keepsake. But yeah, just be aware, like, it does expire. I don't know if you can get the money. You might be able to get the money back if you're leaving. I'm not sure. I didn't think of. I didn't think to look that up. You might be able to. I'm not sure. But also probably the easiest thing to do. Like, I don't have a physical suica card anymore. I got rid of that thing year. Well, I still have it, but I don't use it. [00:30:39] Speaker B: Uh huh. [00:30:40] Speaker A: I have the digital one on my iPhone. Is that what you do? Do you have a digital one? [00:30:45] Speaker B: I always have because I am paranoid that my phone is going to break or run out of batteries. And so I always carry a physical card as well. [00:30:54] Speaker A: Okay, fair enough. So, yeah, interesting fact, even if your phone is dead, you can still use the IC card. [00:31:02] Speaker B: What? [00:31:03] Speaker A: Because at least with iPhone, it's designed in such a way that, um, it, like, it does need battery to work, but it will still last for a little bit even if your phone dies. [00:31:16] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Like, good to know. [00:31:18] Speaker A: It won't last a long time. [00:31:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:21] Speaker A: It will last for like, you know, if you're on your way home and your phone dies, you didn't have a battery. [00:31:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:25] Speaker A: You can still use it to get out of the gate. Like, you're more than fine. Yeah. [00:31:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:32] Speaker A: But depending on which iPhone you have, if you have like one of the newer ones, I think like twelve and above or even eleven above, I'm not sure exactly. But definitely if you have like the 1314 or 15 most. I think almost every model, or depending every model that you buy, doesn't matter where you bought it from in the world, will work with the digital Suica or passimo cards. [00:31:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:58] Speaker A: So that's probably, honestly, that's probably the easiest because if you just go into your wallet like this just for iOS users, I don't know the process for Android, so I apologize. Just google it. And there's plenty of things out there. But for iPhone users, you just pull up the wallet and if you go to add a transportation card, because you can add transportation cards from different cards from around the world. Yeah, Suica will be in there. I think pass them out is too now. But Suica is definitely in there. You can set it all up even before you leave from home. And the good thing about it, to reload the card, you can use your Apple pay on your phone to reload it. So then you're just, you can just constantly reload it without having to worry. Oh, I guess like the other thing I didn't mention, for the IC cards to reload them, guess what you need? Cash. [00:32:56] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that's right. [00:32:57] Speaker A: Okay. [00:32:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Here's the other thing. Okay. And this is the other reason I always carry a physical card. A lot of places have the new machines where you just like, drop it in the little Lodi area for your phone, but not all of them have it. Like, there's some older machines at some stations and you, they don't have, you can't charge the phone. I guess you could ask the station person, but that would be kind of annoying. [00:33:25] Speaker A: Yeah, that's also another problem. [00:33:27] Speaker B: Yeah. But you could just, like, if you have it on your phone, you could just charge with a credit card. So it's fine. [00:33:34] Speaker A: Yeah. And just make sure your card works. I guess when you initially set it up, you'll be putting money on it so you find out if your card works or not. [00:33:40] Speaker B: Right. [00:33:40] Speaker A: It should work because it's through Apple pay, so I don't see why it wouldn't. [00:33:43] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:45] Speaker A: Yeah. With, like, the physical cards, you have to reload them with cash. [00:33:49] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:33:50] Speaker A: There's no way to do it with credit card, to my knowledge anyway. [00:33:54] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know. I never tried it. [00:33:56] Speaker A: Also, also too, you can actually reload your IC cards at, I know for sure at the 711 ATM's. I'm not sure about the other ones, but you can, yeah, 711 ATM's you can reach reload IC cards because they have an IC card reader and you can put it on there and then you just follow the prompts and you put money in the ATM, and then it puts it on your card, which is really cool. And it also works with your, with your digital one on your phone. [00:34:24] Speaker B: Yes. [00:34:25] Speaker A: So you can also do that as well, which is kind of neat. Like, I do that sometimes. I'm like, oh, I have this cash. I just want to put on my, like, my suica card for whatever reason. [00:34:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:36] Speaker A: Then I just, like, go to the ATM and do that. [00:34:40] Speaker B: For sure. Very easy. Yeah. And because it's like, the 711 is all bilingual as well. [00:34:45] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think family mart is two. [00:34:48] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:34:49] Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah, an IC card transportation card makes your life so much easier. Please get one cash. Like, if anything, have cash and IC card and you're good to. But also you should probably have a credit card. Well, I'm pretty sure most people visiting will have a credit card. [00:35:09] Speaker B: Use a credit card. Yeah. Like, when my cousin came to visit, she exclusively used, like, credit card, I think. [00:35:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:18] Speaker B: But here's the thing. I have a question for you, because maybe, you know, I did not know the answer to this question. It'll ask you what currency you want to pay for with a credit card. What do you choose for that? Because I'm like, I don't know if one is better than the other. I didn't know what to tell her. [00:35:33] Speaker A: I always choose the local currency. Choose Japanese yen, because if you choose the currency that your card is in, you're going to get charged an extra fee. [00:35:45] Speaker B: Oh. [00:35:46] Speaker A: So don't do that. [00:35:47] Speaker B: Good to know. Okay. I told you to use Japanese, so I was like, I don't know, maybe you get a better deal at the end. Okay. So I didn't know if. Why or. Okay, good. [00:35:57] Speaker A: Yeah, good to know. It depends on what card you're using in the bank and all that kind of stuff. But, like, in a general sense, just pick Japanese yen. Okay. Because you're not gonna. Again, depends on your credit card. If you have a note, like, if you have a no foreign transaction fee, then you'll just be charged, like, whatever the yen amount is, and that's it. But if you chose, if you choose it to be converted into the currency of your card, then it's gonna be like, it's whatever the exchange rate is with your bank at the current time, and there's usually a fee involved, so you end up paying more. So don't do that. Don't. [00:36:34] Speaker B: Don't ever do it. [00:36:35] Speaker A: I don't. I don't know why that's even an option, honestly? Yeah. [00:36:39] Speaker B: So weird. [00:36:40] Speaker A: Let's see. It's very weird. So always pick japanese yen. Never pick your local currency. So, like, for me, some places, like, it's very hit or miss, because some places never, they don't even ask. Like, the machine doesn't ask. [00:36:55] Speaker B: It just charges you. [00:36:57] Speaker A: It just charges you in japanese yen. But then some place, it's like, oh, which do you want to use? Like, well, I don't want to pay in canadian dollars. Please do it in japanese yen. Yeah, but most places take credit cards now. It's much, much better than what it used to be. [00:37:14] Speaker B: Yeah, almost everywhere. [00:37:16] Speaker A: Yeah, almost. Like, even, even convenience stores take them now. [00:37:20] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Wait, did they not take it before? [00:37:24] Speaker A: Is it kind of depended, I guess, because, like, 711 and stuff. I think it's mostly 711 now. Have the, like, the big touch panels. [00:37:36] Speaker B: You got everything I see. Anything? [00:37:39] Speaker A: Like, yeah, they have this laundry list of payment options and, like, credit cards on there now. Like, they even have, like, a thing. If you want to swipe it, you can swipe your credit card. Just kind of, I feel so old school. To swipe your credit card now. [00:37:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Not much else to say about credit cards. [00:38:02] Speaker B: I mean, I feel like they're pretty standard, and I feel like most people have them on them when they're traveling, so. [00:38:08] Speaker A: Yeah, so you shouldn't run into many problems paying in physical stores with credit cards. [00:38:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:17] Speaker A: Like, your card from home, but always have, have two as a backup. Like, have one as a backup just in case. [00:38:25] Speaker B: Sure. [00:38:26] Speaker A: Like, maybe your bank, for some reason, flags it, like, thinking the card was stolen and then locks it or something. Yeah, that has happened to people before, so it's always good to have two just in case. Because, you know, for me, like, if a car didn't work, I would go into full panic mode. Like, oh, my God, what do I do? Like, how am I gonna pay for this? If I have a second? Like, if I have a second credit card or something, you know, backup of some sort, like, yeah, or cash, then I can, then I don't have to panic. I, like, okay, I can figure out why the cards aren't working later. Let's just get this paid for and leave. You know, that's kind of how I operate when I think of these things. Um, I guess, like, typically, like, have your, your main credit card, you know, the one that you collect points on or whatever the case may be, that. And then have yourself, like, a wise card or something. Because the, those work pretty much everywhere because they're, like, a visa debit or Mastercard debit card. [00:39:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:32] Speaker A: Electronic and digital payments, I guess, is the next one. So this is. I guess this is more like, more geared towards us, like those that live in Japan. [00:39:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:44] Speaker A: So probably the biggest digital payment for people visiting is, like, Apple Pay and Google Pay. [00:39:50] Speaker B: Okay. [00:39:51] Speaker A: Those have become more common now, thankfully, for the most part. There's kind of a weird caveat to this. So if you go to, like, 711, there's an option on there that says Apple Pay. However, if you say Apple Pay to someone in a store, there's a good chance I'm not going to know what you're talking about, because nobody says Apple Pay here. No one says that. As long as the terminal that you're paying, it has the touch ability. So you know how physical cars have the touch so you don't have to swipe it. [00:40:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:28] Speaker A: As long as the terminal has that, you should be able to use Apple Pay. I've been doing this for a while now, and I've had zero issues paying with Apple Pay on my. With my credit card. Um, and the trick is to don't say Apple Pay to the person. Just tell them you want to use your card. [00:40:48] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:40:48] Speaker A: Because then they, you know, press whatever buttons they need to press on their little terminal, and then the touch. The touch portion of. On their little pad will work with the Apple pay most of the time. Okay, so in Japanese, what you want to, like, the easiest way to say is just say or just kado de if you want to really shorten it. But adding one gaishimasu to the end just makes it sound more polite. Um, so, yeah, if you just tell them ping by card and there's a tat, like a touch thing, then your apple pay, apple Pay and Google Pay should work. And I've been testing that out a lot lately. Just like, I'm going to, like, wherever I'm at, wherever I am, I just. I try. Like, I did at Sukiya and it worked. I did it McDonald's and it worked. I did it at Starbucks and it worked. So it seems. Yeah, like that. That's kind of the way to go with Apple pay because. Yeah, I know. Like, in the US and Canada, if you say apple pay, people know what you mean and pretty much everywhere takes it. But here it's. I don't know, the wording is different for whatever reason. [00:42:05] Speaker B: Or maybe it's, like, just more uncommon. [00:42:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure on the exact reason. [00:42:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:15] Speaker A: Um, because, yeah, they're like, there's other electronic payments. But we talked about that before, but that's, again, more. For more people that live here. Like, there's electronic money, like id and quick pay, that stuff you need to live here to be able to use those and paypay line pay. D. But I. [00:42:35] Speaker B: It's kind of like too many. That's like the issue. [00:42:38] Speaker A: You know, our payrol. [00:42:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:41] Speaker A: Rakuten pay. My grocery store has its own payment system. Like, why do I want to do that? Like, I don't want to. Oh, no, I don't want to do that. [00:42:51] Speaker B: Yeah, but you have to. You can use other things, too, so it's fine. [00:42:55] Speaker A: No, I just, I just use my card, my regular credit card, my japanese credit card for it. So I'm like, I'm not doing this. I'm not giving you guys this money. Um, and also, if you're someone who is like, maybe traveling to, like, China, mainland China, you're going to be using Alipay. [00:43:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:16] Speaker A: And a lot of places in Japan will take Alipay now as well. Definitely, because chinese tourists are the biggest demographic of tourists that come to Japan. So they kind of cater towards people visiting from China. So Alipay is one because Alipay recently, I think in the last year or two, allowed non residents, like people that don't live in China, to be able to use Alipay. So when I went there last, I set up Alipay with my wise card and I was able to pay for everything with Alipay in China. And there's like a lot of places here use Alipay as well. So if you want to, I don't know, as someone who is visiting and you want to use a QR code payment, you could use Alipay. You want to set it up, which, which is probably not a bad thing to do. If you're planning to go to China as well, then you kind of keep all your payment stuff in one spot, don't having to switch all the time, because with Alipay, you can connect different credit cards, like, kind of similar to Apple Pay. Like, you can add, you know, your, your main credit card wise also works with it, too, because that's what is connected to mine, like, and whatnot. So the last thing is debit cards. Debit cards really aren't a thing here. People don't have. [00:44:43] Speaker B: Yeah, we don't. That's true. Yeah. [00:44:46] Speaker A: I don't know how it is in the US, but in Canada, like, debit cards was like, well, I guess I haven't lived in Canada for ten years. But debit cards is like, what most people would use. It's like everything was just debit card. Debit card, debit card, debit card. [00:45:00] Speaker B: Deb, when I was a teenager, yeah, there was debit cards slash credit cards and separate credit cards and. Yeah. Like, so I don't know. Again, yeah, same as you. I haven't lived there in a long time, so I don't know, maybe digital payment is more common. [00:45:18] Speaker A: Last time I was in Canada, Apple pay was, like, widely used, like, right, those payments. But I think people still use debit cards because, like, you know, they have the touch on it and it's easy. [00:45:30] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that's true. [00:45:33] Speaker A: So, yeah, debit cards really aren't a thing here in Japan. So you can't use it to pay for anything? [00:45:39] Speaker B: No. Just like at your ATM or something, like your bank. [00:45:42] Speaker A: So you can, you can pull money. Well, again, you need to check with your bank, but with your debit card, at least for me, I can pull money out of my canadian bank accounts at the ATM's in Japan with my debit card. [00:45:55] Speaker B: Oh. [00:45:56] Speaker A: So if you, if you do have a debit card, you want to pull money out of your account from back home, check with your bank, because you might be able to pull money out at the ATM in Japan. [00:46:06] Speaker B: Like, what ATM's do you find work best with your, like, country's debit card? [00:46:11] Speaker A: Uh, any of the convenience stores, like 711, lost and family Mart, they all work nice. I just default 711 just because I just do. No real rhyme or reason, I guess. [00:46:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:24] Speaker A: For that, man, we went, we went in depth with this one. There was, there was a lot. I think we covered everything. Like, yeah, cash, ic cards. [00:46:37] Speaker B: I feel pretty much right. Like, what else could you use? [00:46:41] Speaker A: Travelers checks are not a thing anymore. [00:46:43] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Check. So that's kind of like, really? I don't think, like, checks are like, I feel like when I was a teenager in the US, Czechs were still. Some people used it maybe a lot less common, but I feel like by that time in Japan, people were nothing. I feel like. Have checks ever been a thing here? [00:47:11] Speaker A: You know what? I have zero. [00:47:13] Speaker B: I feel like no. Right. [00:47:15] Speaker A: You would think it would be a thing here. [00:47:17] Speaker B: You would think so, right? I feel like if it was a thing, it would still be a thing. [00:47:24] Speaker A: Right. [00:47:25] Speaker B: I feel like people just use cash probably. Yeah. [00:47:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:47:32] Speaker B: Because I've never seen a check here, like, even in the olden days. [00:47:37] Speaker A: No. So I guess, like, quickly to recap everything, like, have a good mixture of these things. Like, don't just rely on one thing just in case. So make sure you have an IC card. You can get a physical one or do it on your phone. Your phone's probably the easiest. Have cash on you. I would say, um, like, it kind of depends on how you want to travel. Like, if you, if you have a, maybe a certain budget or something that you're allocating, then maybe like, it's safe to bring cash into the country. Like, go to your local bank. Again, depends on where you live. Like, again, check with your bank. Everything I tell you, check with your bank. Because every bank is different, but you can typically exchange money at your bank. They may have to, may take a few days or whatever. Get japanese yen. And it's safe to bring money into the country. Like, for the most part, obviously, don't bring a huge sum of money. That's going to set off red flags. I think it's like the equivalent of a million yen or something. They ask you on your customs form. [00:48:52] Speaker B: Which is like, check what's, you know, check what youre. [00:48:56] Speaker A: I think that's like, rough. Somewhere around $10,000 or something like that. I don't think anyone's going to be bringing that much money in or that much cash in. [00:49:04] Speaker B: I feel like for that you could just use the ATM or something when you need it. [00:49:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And pay attention to, like, with ATM stuFf. Check again. Check with your bank. What the, like, the limit is for pulling money out, like how much you're allowed to take out per day, what the fees are and stuff, and kind of figure out from there the best way to kind of, you know, maximize or minimize fees and stuff like that. But anyway, yeah, for cash, you could bring a bunch with you and like, that's all the cash you have for your trip. Then you don't have to worry about the ATM. Or you can bring just a little bit to get you through for a day or two, then pull out money as you need from the ATM if you want. I know people that have done both ways. It just kind of depends on what you are comfortable with. [00:49:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:53] Speaker A: And then, of course, yeah, have your IC card, like I already mentioned, and then have, try and have at least two credit cards just in case one doesn't work for whatever bloody reason, then at least you're covered. [00:50:06] Speaker B: Yeah, sounds good. [00:50:07] Speaker A: I think that's like a solid piece of advice, I think. [00:50:12] Speaker B: Uh huh. [00:50:13] Speaker A: And I, yeah, just always, always check with your bank and get yourself a bloody coin purse. Get a coin purse because you're going to be using it a lot. [00:50:27] Speaker B: And, you know, even, even not just for change, for, you know, all those gachapon machines. Right. [00:50:37] Speaker A: My coin purse is actually. I bought it from the Nintendo store. It's. It's rubber, and it's in the shape of the Mario coin. [00:50:44] Speaker B: Oh, cute. [00:50:46] Speaker A: And it's actually quite big. It can hold a lot. [00:50:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:49] Speaker A: But that's kind of when I have a bunch of coins and I don't want to keep it in my wallet, I just throw it all in there. And then whenever it gets to, like, a certain weight, like, okay, this is coming with me today, and I'm going to spend it. [00:51:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:05] Speaker A: That's actually what I did today. I went to Caesarea for lunch. [00:51:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:09] Speaker A: And I just paid for it with coins out of my little coin purse. [00:51:13] Speaker B: Nice. [00:51:14] Speaker A: Just to get rid of it. And it is so satisfying when you have all these little ¥1 coins and you can get rid of all of them. [00:51:24] Speaker B: That's like the best. There's like a limit on those ¥100, those. Those ¥1 coins in some of the machines. Well, I hate them so much. I try to keep on top of it. I usually don't have them. The. The boys never use their coins, and then they end up with a ton of the freaking ¥1 coins. And it's like a battle to get rid of them. [00:51:47] Speaker A: I know. It's so. [00:51:49] Speaker B: I hate it so much. [00:51:50] Speaker A: Very annoying. [00:51:51] Speaker B: They really annoying. [00:51:53] Speaker A: Those coins are so bloody annoying. But it is very, like, sad as satisfying to get rid of them. [00:52:02] Speaker B: Getting rid of it. Like, when you do the groceries, it's like, bam. Like, throw it in there. Ha. It's gone. [00:52:07] Speaker A: Oh, I love, like, I don't know, I just feel like a sense of. Sense of satisfaction. [00:52:12] Speaker B: Yeah, it feels like the weight is gone. [00:52:14] Speaker A: Well. And especially, like I mentioned earlier, I can put all these coins in, and then my change is just bills. [00:52:21] Speaker B: I have never gotten bills back. I've got to try that because that's. That's great. [00:52:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it is the. The best feeling. Best in the world. Um, well, I guess too, like, you can use the coins to, like, when you pray. Like, if you're someone. [00:52:38] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Go to a temple or something. [00:52:39] Speaker A: Yeah, the temple. Like the month that, like, that money goes to the temple. [00:52:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:44] Speaker A: Right. [00:52:45] Speaker B: Yeah, it does, I would imagine. Right. It goes to someone, takes it. [00:52:50] Speaker A: So, like, I've done that before where I'm like, you know what? I'm just gonna go to. I'm gonna go to the shrine and I'm gonna get rid of the coins. [00:52:58] Speaker B: That way. [00:52:59] Speaker A: Do my praying. [00:53:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of true because, like, there's no tipping here, so you can't really get rid of, like, 100 or ¥500 coins by tipping, right? [00:53:12] Speaker A: No, you can't. [00:53:14] Speaker B: So you have to use it on other stuff. [00:53:16] Speaker A: And please don't try to tip people. It just makes things awkward. [00:53:19] Speaker B: Yeah, don't. Don't. Don't get that started here. Okay. [00:53:23] Speaker A: It. Yeah, people won't take it. A lot of people won't understand what you're doing. [00:53:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:29] Speaker A: Like, even I guess it's like, don't. Like, don't leave change in the change tray. Someone like, do not do. Like. They will chase you down because it'll. [00:53:39] Speaker B: Cause a problem for, like, the teller. [00:53:41] Speaker A: Yeah, they don't know what to do with it. Yeah, like, it's not their money. Right. It's not there. It's your money, so just take it. [00:53:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. [00:53:54] Speaker A: I like, I know. One yens or ¥1 little, like, Yennis, as you like to call them. [00:53:59] Speaker B: Throw them on the floor and leave them there. [00:54:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Please don't be like that, girl. Yeah, don't do that. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. I guess. Are there any other tips for, like, I guess paying for things or cash? Anything we missed? [00:54:19] Speaker B: I don't think so. I think it was pretty thorough. Like, for me personally, I bring cash, I bring a card, and maybe I'll use digital money if someone sends it to me, I'm like, what do I do with this? But I don't use digital. I'm too old. I'm an elderly now. The teenager uses it, like, all the time, but he's like, send me baby. I'm like, okay, I have some on my phone, but, yeah, that's what I use. You know, I think that's pretty. Pretty standard for a lot of people. [00:54:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, like, the IC card things, like, it's kind of satisfying paying for, like, vending machine stuff with it. [00:55:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Yeah. You don't know. Especially when, like, the train is coming. You don't have to fumble for, like, change, you know? [00:55:11] Speaker A: I've done that so many times. It's just. It's just so. It's so quick. [00:55:15] Speaker B: For real. [00:55:16] Speaker A: Yeah, because, like, even with, like, digital payments. [00:55:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:19] Speaker A: You have to, like, open up the app or, like, open digital wallet. Like, there's a couple steps to get it to work with ic cards, I guess. Yeah, we didn't really mention that. With ic cards, you literally just tap it. There's nothing else to do. You just tap it. That's all you do. That's all you need to do. [00:55:35] Speaker B: Have you seen the new, the new vending machines, like, at the stations? [00:55:42] Speaker A: What do you mean? [00:55:43] Speaker B: I think they replaced, like, a lot of the Acura, the screen ones. They don't have a money function. Oh. [00:55:49] Speaker A: It's only digital? [00:55:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:51] Speaker A: Oh. [00:55:52] Speaker B: So things are. Things are changing little by little. [00:55:58] Speaker A: Digital payments, I guess, like, the only thing I don't particularly care for is everything is tracked. Like, trackable, I guess. Not that I'm doing anything nefarious. It's just like, oh, every transaction I have, the data's there, and I don't know how to feel about that. [00:56:22] Speaker B: I guess it's good for theft prevention, maybe. [00:56:25] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I'm just a normal person. I'm not doing anything nefarious. [00:56:30] Speaker B: Like, if somebody takes your. If somebody takes your, I don't know, card or something, but. Or your phone or something. I don't know. [00:56:38] Speaker A: For me, living in Japan for as long as I have now, um. [00:56:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:42] Speaker A: Like, I appreciate money, like, or cash, I should say. [00:56:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:46] Speaker A: Like, it's just. I don't know. There's just like that, that tactile feeling of it, and it's like when I'm paying for something, it feels like I'm actually exchanging something physical for something else. Whereas digital is very. Just like, it's just numbers on a screen. [00:57:01] Speaker B: That's true. [00:57:03] Speaker A: Like, this doesn't. I guess in the grand scheme of things, this doesn't really exist, which I. [00:57:09] Speaker B: Guess that's, like, even for paper money too, right? It's just like we're at. Right? [00:57:17] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like, it's just like, I don't know. It's a weird psychological thing. I guess it is. [00:57:22] Speaker B: I'm, like, old already, so, like, I still use paper money, but I feel like in the very near future in Japan, I think that's really going to change. I mean, you saw the news, right, that I think they're going to do away with the IC cards for the transportation, right? Or no, paper tickets. [00:57:41] Speaker A: Paper tickets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think they're not IC. [00:57:45] Speaker B: What am I saying? Don't listen to me. No, the paper tickets. The paper tickets are going to be gone, which, you know, for the train nerds is like, the saddest thing because that's like their. [00:57:55] Speaker A: They're keeping so many people that still use paper tickets. [00:57:58] Speaker B: I do. Because people like it. Because it's like a memento sometimes. [00:58:03] Speaker A: Also, I think some people, too, are, like, very cautious of their privacy. [00:58:06] Speaker B: Oh, sure. [00:58:07] Speaker A: It's like, that stuff isn't trackable. Like, you can't really tie it to a person. Right. Because it's paid with cash and it's just a piece of paper. [00:58:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:17] Speaker A: You can't really track someone with that. Whereas, like, with an IC card, that's all. [00:58:21] Speaker B: It's all tracked. [00:58:22] Speaker A: The data is all there. [00:58:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:23] Speaker A: It's really easy to kind of see where you've been and what you've spent your money on. Things like that. Yeah, I did read that they also want to make it easier for transportation, for people to pay for transportation with their credit cards. [00:58:38] Speaker B: Mm hmm. Yeah. [00:58:39] Speaker A: Like Apple pay and physical credit cards and stuff. You just tap it and go. Because I know places like, like Singapore, I use my wise card to pay for all the transportation. I just tapped my wise cardinal and it just charged my card. [00:58:54] Speaker B: Yeah. So, like, in the next few years, that's what it's going to be like. Right? [00:58:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:59:00] Speaker B: So if you're traveling now and you want, like, a retro piece of history, get those train tickets, those physical. [00:59:06] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. [00:59:07] Speaker B: You know? Yeah. [00:59:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Just like this was. Yeah. Announced for the resort line. Did you see that? [00:59:16] Speaker B: I did not. Wait, what? [00:59:18] Speaker A: The resort lines. Getting rid of tickets as well. It's gonna be all QR code stuff. [00:59:24] Speaker B: Oh. [00:59:26] Speaker A: So I don't. Not charming, but, like, people, like, they were. The press release wasn't very clear. It was kind of vague, which. Yeah, guess that's kind of on purpose. Like, so, like, there's gonna be no physical component because, you know, you put the ticket in and it's. Sucks it in and spits it out on the other side, which is always kind of fun. I think that's neat. [00:59:48] Speaker B: I mean, I guess it does make less maintenance for the machines. Right. Less, like, waste in terms of, like, the. [00:59:59] Speaker A: Big question people are asking, like, are they getting rid of, like, the, like, the tickets. Like, the physical tickets. [01:00:05] Speaker B: They must be, right? [01:00:06] Speaker A: Or are they ticket. Are there still going to be physical tickets? But they'll just have a QR code. [01:00:10] Speaker B: On them now, I would imagine they're getting rid of the tickets. They want to probably get rid of those machines and just make it so you don't have to. It'll probably stop the gridlock in front of those machines where people are buying the tickets. Right. [01:00:22] Speaker A: Like, I'll be so sad to not be able to get my monorail tickets with little designs on them. [01:00:27] Speaker B: I'll be sad too, because those are fun. I like tickets. I feel like tickets are so retro. I love them. I'm going to cry, but you know what? The world moves on, Chris. We can't live in the olden days forever. I'm gonna have to switch to digital money soon. [01:00:47] Speaker A: Well, they pay, pay set up, so. [01:00:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:54] Speaker A: All right, explorers, hopefully you got something out of that. I know there's a lot of information. I think you'll be fine. So before we go, though, we want to thank some wonderful explorers who are supporting us over on Patreon. So if you want to support the show, head on over to patreon.com tdr now. Huge thank you to acro Disney girl, Adam, Amanda. C. Amy. B. Amy, c. Mama. Explore, Benjamin, Brent. M. Carrie, Crispy, Claire, Claudia, Dave, David, Baker, Kevin, Harry, Marina, Beth, Eli, Abby, Robinson, and Taylor. [01:01:27] Speaker B: And thank you to Jamie, Jose, Cathy, Lee, Marie, Michelle, Marie, Sophie, Spoopy, Thomas, Kate, Alexandra, Lizzie, Amy, and Andy, Dana, Cassandra, Annie, Sonia, WW, Paige, and Tara. [01:01:41] Speaker A: And then, if you haven't already, make sure you hit that subscribe button or follow button on your podcast app so you do not miss any of our newest episodes. I'm one of your hosts, Chris. I am the one that is. I don't know. I'm trying to make a. Correlate something to money. [01:01:59] Speaker B: What are you shopping for lately? [01:02:01] Speaker A: Uh, skincare products. That's what I've been doing. [01:02:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:02:07] Speaker A: I'm using. Using my digital money to pay for it. [01:02:09] Speaker B: Nice. [01:02:10] Speaker A: There we go. And joining, as always, is the wonderful Patricia. [01:02:17] Speaker B: I'm the one using money, and I guess, like, credit cards, I don't use digital money that much to buy junji ito merch. Spooky stuff. And iced foods. Ice cream and kakigori and cold noodles. But actually, I want to know what you guys are shopping for when you come to Japan. What's on your must buy list? What are the things you want to try? What are you using? Your digital payment or your cash or your credit cards or your IC cards. What are you using it for? Why don't you let us know and enjoy your shopping. [01:03:00] Speaker A: Alex Mars, we'll see you in the next one. Bye.