Thursday, August 03, 2006

Getting Home

‘The day finished at 9pm. Was knackered. Then I had to get home. Nearly came a right cropper as well.

Japan is a cash-based society. Credit cards are not really accepted in stores, and hole-in-the-wall machine are disconcertingly absent from high streets. In short, you have to cart around great wads of cash.

And if you forget this fact and spend your money, perhaps thinking in the back of your mind, I’ll just nip to the cashpoint, you’re going to come unstuck. As I very nearly did.

I realised, nearly too late, that I barely had enough money to get home. Lunch was out if I was to see my air conditioned flat again that night, and so had to cobble together all my coppers for my two train tickets home.

It is one aspect of Japan I cannot understand. They are an incredibly advanced nation: their trains run to the second and their mobile phones can receive microwave transmissions from outer space.

So why can’t they accept credit cards? And HSBC? Oriental company? World’s Local Bank? My card is not accepted out here.

Tossers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear!

Honk Kong Shanghai Bank = not for Japan! Sucks to be you!

Anonymous said...

Go to a post office mate... they all take foreign cards

Anonymous said...

To Giacomo,

HSBC (actually British capital) TV ads (and massive campaign at UK airports) say they are "World's Local Bank". As Paul says go to Post Office ATM, as no problem using my Nationwide Debit Card.