Japan is less cash-only than it was and more cash-only than visitors expect. Cards work in cities and chains; small restaurants, shrines, lockers and rural buses often do not take them. Carrying notes is not old-fashioned, it is practical.

The phrases here cover asking whether a card works, finding an ATM that accepts foreign cards — convenience store machines almost always do — and the tax-free question. From 1 November 2026 the mechanics change: you pay the full price in the shop and claim the ten per cent back at the airport, rather than being exempted at the till.