Checked against Seven Bank’s and Japan Post Bank’s official English-language pages on 16 September 2026. Withdrawal limits and fees are set by each network and can change, so confirm the current numbers on the ATM screen before you commit to a withdrawal.

Japan is still a cash-heavy country, and sooner or later most travelers need to pull yen out of a machine. The confusing part is that walking up to a random bank ATM often doesn’t work — mainstream Japanese banks like Mizuho or MUFG largely built their networks for domestic cards, and many of their machines simply won’t read a card issued overseas. The two networks that were actually built for this are Seven Bank, the ATM operator behind every 7-Eleven, and Japan Post Bank, at post offices and FamilyMart stores nationwide.

7-Eleven and post office ATMs are built for foreign cards — most street-corner bank ATMs aren’t

Seven Bank runs more than 28,000 ATMs at 7-Eleven stores across the country, plus machines at major airports including Narita, Haneda, and Kansai. Every one of them accepts Visa, Plus, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, UnionPay, American Express, JCB, and Discover, and switches to English (along with Chinese, Korean, Thai, and several other languages) the moment it reads a foreign card. Japan Post Bank covers similar ground through post office ATMs and FamilyMart convenience stores, accepting the same major networks — Visa, Plus, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, JCB, UnionPay, and Discover.

Between the two, you’re rarely far from a working machine even outside the big cities, since both 7-Eleven and post offices reach small towns that many other banks don’t.

Seven Bank allows ¥100,000 per withdrawal, Japan Post Bank ¥50,000

At a Seven Bank ATM, the standard withdrawal limit is ¥100,000 per transaction (¥30,000 if your card only has a magnetic stripe rather than a chip). Mastercard, Maestro, and Cirrus cards pay no Seven Bank service fee at all; Visa and Visa Electron are charged ¥110 per withdrawal under ¥10,000 and ¥220 at or above that amount, and American Express is ¥220. The machines run 24 hours a day.

Japan Post Bank’s per-transaction limit is lower, at ¥50,000, and carries a ¥220 service fee for many foreign-issued cards. Its ATMs follow post office hours — generally 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on weekdays, and 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Sundays and holidays — while the FamilyMart machines run nearly around the clock, closing only briefly from midnight to 7:00 a.m. on the third Monday of each month for maintenance. Neither network supports balance inquiries for foreign cards, and your own bank will likely add its own international ATM fee or currency conversion charge on top of what you see in Japan, so it’s worth checking that fee with your card issuer before you leave.

What this doesn’t cover

This is about withdrawing cash, not about paying by card directly — contactless and chip card payments at shops, restaurants, and train ticket machines are a separate, increasingly common option in Japan and don’t depend on either of these ATM networks. And if your card is a debit card tied to a foreign bank account rather than a credit card, double-check with your bank beforehand that international ATM withdrawals are even enabled — some banks turn this off by default until a customer requests it.

How Travel AI Rescue helps

Travel AI Rescue keeps a card explaining common ATM and banking phrases in Japanese ready to show a convenience store clerk if a machine won’t cooperate, so you’re not stuck guessing what an on-screen error means. It stores your card numbers and your bank’s international support line securely on the device, readable even with no signal, so you can call for help without hunting through your inbox for that email you saved before the trip. And if a card gets swallowed by a machine or you suspect fraud after a failed attempt, it helps put together a clear summary of what happened that you can hand to your bank or to Japanese police. It works differently from a staffed help desk, and it’s with you around the clock — a bridge that gets you to the right window with the right information already prepared. (Whether a specific ATM or card combination works is ultimately determined by Seven Bank, Japan Post Bank, and your own card issuer, not by Travel AI Rescue.)

Sources

• Seven Bank, “ATM for withdrawing Japanese yen with foreign-issued cards.” https://www.sevenbank.co.jp/intlcard/index2.html (accessed 16 September 2026).
• Seven Bank, “How to withdraw cash in Japan using a foreign card.” https://www.sevenbank.co.jp/intlcard/service2.html (accessed 16 September 2026).
• Japan Post Bank, “International ATM Service.” https://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/en/ias/en_ias_index.html (accessed 16 September 2026).