Japan Travel Guide

Japan rewards the traveller who reads up before flying. Most things you need to know are small, which train pass is worth it, which ATM works with an Indian card, when to bow. None of it is hard to learn, but learning it on the plane back is too late.

The yen has been weak for most of the last year, including against the rupee. For travellers, Japan in 2026 is meaningfully cheaper than five years ago, hotels, dining and shopping all feel lighter on the wallet.

The Yen and the Rupee

The yen has been weak for most of the last year. That includes against the rupee. For travellers, Japan in 2026 is meaningfully cheaper than it was five years ago, hotels, dining, and shopping all feel lighter on the wallet than the Instagram reels suggest.

Rates move every day. The number on Google is the live interbank rate, what authorised dealers use to trade with each other. It is not the rate most banks and forex providers actually sell at. They build a markup into their selling price, usually 2 to 4 percent, and it never appears as a separate line item on the bill.

On a forex order of a few lakh rupees, that markup quietly adds up to thousands. It is the biggest avoidable cost on a Japan trip, and it gets paid before you have even left India.

How Much Yen to Carry

Japan was a cash-only country for decades. It is not anymore. Contactless cards, Suica, and QR wallets work at most chains, train stations, convenience stores, hotels, and a growing share of small restaurants in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Fukuoka.

Cash still matters at small ramen shops, traditional sento, some shrines and temples, rural ryokan, and older vending machines. None of those need much. A moderate stock of yen handles them all.

A Sensible Cash Plan

For a 7-to-10-day trip, carry enough yen for two days of incidentals in your wallet. Keep the rest in the hotel safe. Cards and Suica handle everything else.

Indian residents can carry up to USD 3,000 equivalent in foreign currency notes per trip to Japan. Anything beyond that goes on a forex card or as a wire transfer. Most leisure trips will not approach the ₹10 lakh per person per financial year TCS threshold, so no tax collection at source applies.

Where to Buy Yen Before You Fly

The cheapest yen are the ones bought in India before departure. Indian airport counters and tourist-area money changers run a noticeable markup over the interbank rate. Hotel front desks run worse. Online forex providers selling at the live interbank rate are typically a few percent better than both.

On a few lakh rupees of forex, the gap between a marked-up rate and the interbank rate is larger than any discount or coupon a forex provider would realistically offer. The saving lives in the rate itself, not in promotions.

The cleanest approach is to order yen for door delivery before flying, and load the balance on a forex card. The card sits in your wallet as backup currency if cash runs short.

Cards in Japan

Visa and Mastercard are accepted almost universally in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Fukuoka. American Express works at most hotels and large stores. JCB, the Japanese network, works everywhere. RuPay has effectively no acceptance, so do not rely on it as your main card.

Apple Pay and Google Pay work widely, especially when paired with a Suica layer. A standard Visa-based forex card works wherever Visa is accepted.

Two Things Indian Cardholders Should Know

Online payments in Japan trigger 3D Secure verification, which means an OTP to your registered Indian mobile number. Keep your Indian SIM active on roaming, or use an eSIM that keeps the number reachable. Otherwise online bookings fail at the OTP step.

At hotels, electronics stores like BicCamera and Yodobashi, and duty-free counters, the card machine asks whether to charge in yen or in rupees. Always pick yen. The rupee option is dynamic currency conversion and adds a markup of several percent on top of whatever your card already takes.

The Best ATMs in Japan

Japan has one of the cleanest ATM situations in the world for foreign cards.

Seven Bank ATMs, in every 7-Eleven, are the default. Full English interface, Visa and Mastercard accepted, flat fee per withdrawal, open 24 hours. Lawson and Family Mart ATMs work the same way. Japan Post Bank ATMs are everywhere and charge a comparable fee.

Skip the currency exchange kiosks in Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Dotonbori. They run several percentage points off the mid-market rate. Hotel front desks run worse.

What You Will Spend Each Day

On the ground, daily spending splits into three rough tiers.

Backpacker: hostel dorm bed, two conbini meals, one cheap restaurant meal, local trains, free temples. The cheapest sensible way to do Japan.

Mid-range, where most travellers land: a three-star business hotel like APA, Toyoko Inn, or Sotetsu Fresa, set-meal restaurants, occasional shinkansen, paid temple entries, one or two attractions a day.

Premium: four-or-five-star hotel, kaiseki dinners, taxis, JR Pass, the curated experiences. Comfortable rather than extravagant.

A 7-day mid-range trip for two lands in the lower-middle of this range on the ground. Flights and hotels are usually paid in India before departure and sit on top.

Two-input live converter: enter an amount in INR or JPY, see the equivalent in the other currency.

Rate displayed: the live interbank rate (mid-market), with a small label "Live interbank rate. Updated [timestamp]."

Optional secondary line: "Most banks add a 2–4% markup to this rate."

Default amount on page load: ₹50,000 → JPY equivalent.

Data source: an FX API of dev team's choice (Open Exchange Rates, ExchangeRate-API, or Wise's API). Cache rate for 5–15 minutes.

Getting Around

Trains run Japan. The system is fast, on time, and confusing on day one. Two things make it manageable.

The Suica or Pasmo IC card is the first. Tap in, tap out, fare deducts automatically. It works on almost every train, subway, bus, and convenience store across the country. The Welcome Suica Mobile app, which JR East launched in late 2024, lets you provision a virtual Suica on Apple Wallet or Google Pay before you fly. Top up with an Indian Visa or Mastercard. The airport ticket-machine queue disappears.

The JR Pass is the second, and it is no longer the obvious choice it used to be. After the October 2023 price hike, the 7-day pass is only worth it if your itinerary covers Tokyo to Kyoto plus Kyoto to Hiroshima return, or comparable long-distance shinkansen travel. For a Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka loop, individual shinkansen tickets work out cheaper. Run the numbers on Japan Guide's calculator before you buy.

PayPay, the biggest Japanese QR wallet, does not accept foreign cards for top-up. Travellers cannot use it even though the signs are everywhere. Stick to Suica, contactless, and cash.