Shopping

Shopping in Japan

A blend of Oriental goods and Western sales techniques confronts the shopper, predominantly at the big department stores, which are more like exhibitions than shops. Playgrounds for children are available. Special purchases include kimonos, mingei (local crafts including kites and folk toys); Kyoto silks, fans, screens, dolls; religious articles such as Shinto and Buddhist artifacts; paper lanterns; lacquer ware; hi-fi equipment, cameras, televisions and other electronic equipment. Bargaining is not usual.

Tax exemptions: These are available in authorized tax-free stores.
Certain items costing more than ¥10,000 are exempt from tax.

Shopping hours:
1000-1900/2000 every day of the week and on public holidays.

Currency Information:

Note

Don’t be surprised to see people carry large amounts of cash. Japan has a b cash culture, remember crime rate is very low. Of late credit cards have become very popular.
Nevertheless, travelers may still come across difficulties with foreign credit cards.

Currency
Japanese Yen (JPY; symbol ¥). Notes are in denominations of ¥10,000, 5000, 2000 and 1000. Coins are in denominations of ¥500, 100, 50, 10, 5 and 1.

Currency exchange
All money must be exchanged at an authorized bank or money changer.

Credit & debit cards
American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard, Visa and other major credit cards are widely accepted in towns. Check with your credit or debit card company for merchant acceptability. ATMs are widely available although many do not accept foreign credit or debit cards, and are harder to find outside of towns. They only operate during normal banking hours and weekend services can be restricted to Saturday morning. ATMs are available in towns and they are generally open Mon-Fri 0700-2300, Sat- Sun 0900-1900. Citibank machines also accept foreign credit cards and are often open 24 hours.

Traveller's cheques
These can be exchanged at most major banks, larger hotels and some duty free shops. To avoid additional exchange rate charges, travelers are advised to take traveller's cheques in Japanese Yen or US dollars.

Currency restrictions
The import and export of local and foreign currency is unrestricted, subject to declaration of amounts equivalent to ¥1,000,000 or above.

Exchange rate indicators

Date	At time of publishing
£1.00=	JPY204.38
$1.00=	JPY117.72

Banking hours
Mon-Fri 0900-1500.