Cash Only

I live in the land for technological greatness - pocket calculators, camcorders and DSLR cameras were invented here, not to mention robots, the Shinkansen (bullet train) and futuristic cars with all kinds of crazy technologies.  One would think that living here would mean that everything is up to date and completely tech driven.  Imagine my surprise when I went to the grocery store, only to discover it was a cash only business.  Thinking that this was an exception to the rule, I continued on, thinking..."gee, they need to catch up to the times!"  Wrong...almost everything here in my little pocket of Japan is cash only.  Crazy!

"Jason, can you stop by the Post Office and the Circle K please?  I need to pay bills."

The postal service, Japan Post, is also the bank, Japan Post Bank.  There are two counters in the building, one for postal services and one for banking.  They are open typical business hours - M-F about 9 to 5.  The cash machines that are outside are open a little later, until about 7 PM and also have limited hours on the weekend.  After that, we cannot access our money until the following business day.  If we forget to get money out for the weekend or if it is a holiday, we are out of luck.  Cash machines get holidays off.

In the US I paid all my bills online.  Not only can I not pay my bills online here, I cannot even access my account online.  Bills are given to us twice.  First we get a meter reading printout - a little receipt that is slipped into our door by the gas man, electric man, and the water man.  A week or so later the actual bill comes in the mail.  Bills here all have barcodes on them.  You take your bills to any convenience store to pay them.  The bill is scanned into the register and you an pay your gas bill, internet bill, and buy a soda all at the same time.  With cash of course.  You can also order products online - from Amazon or where ever, and pay for that at the convenience store before delivery.

When we do happen to find a store that accepts credit, we always have to tell the clerk how many times we want our card charged.  Stores here offer the option of charging your card in installments as opposed to the whole total at once.  Of course there is an interest added to your uncharged balance.

I guess this is a good thing - for two people that have enjoyed the last 14 or so years living with ease because of our friend Visa...we now have to learn to live without it.  It's good - but quite a learning curve!

Comments

  1. David ShoupMay 27, 2012 at 12:04 AM

    Yes, I bet that took a little adjusting to. I think we in the states could use a bit of the same approach to our finances as it would cause us to be a bit more conscious of our spending. Great post!

    ReplyDelete

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