Japan ATM foreign card guide: limits, fees and locations
Verdict
Start with Seven Bank at 7-Eleven or Japan Post Bank when you need yen from a foreign card; Lawson Bank and AEON Bank also offer international-card machines. As of October 2026, Seven Bank’s cap is ¥100,000 per transaction, reduced to ¥30,000 for magnetic-stripe transactions, while Japan Post Bank, Lawson Bank and AEON Bank each cap a withdrawal at ¥50,000. Choose a supported machine that fits your arrival time, then read the fee and currency information before approving.
Source: Seven Bank – overseas-card conditions, Japan Post Bank – international ATM service, Lawson Bank – international ATMs and AEON Bank – ATM FAQ (confirmed 2 October 2026).
A per-withdrawal cap is the maximum yen amount requested in a single transaction, not a promise about how much your card issuer will authorize. Keep the machine’s rules separate from your card’s own terms.
That distinction makes the decision manageable: first identify the operator, then match your card brand, access time and requested amount. Comparing convenience-store names alone misses the differences that actually affect whether you leave with cash.
How do the four ATM networks compare at a glance?
Seven Bank has the higher standard transaction cap; the other networks below share a lower cap. The comparison is as of October 2026, and the fee column describes the operator’s published conditions rather than your complete card bill.
| Network | Per-withdrawal cap | Hours | Fee shown on the official page | Currency choice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seven Bank | ¥100,000; ¥30,000 for magnetic-stripe transactions | Visa/Mastercard: 00:00–24:00; other brands have shorter windows | Set by card brand | Visa/Mastercard: home currency or yen |
| Japan Post Bank | ¥50,000 | Post offices: Mon–Sat excluding holidays 07:00–23:00; Sun/holidays/Dec 31–Jan 3 07:00–21:00. Small machines: 00:05–23:55, except a monthly 07:00 start | Some overseas cards: ¥220 including tax for each use; issuer charges can be additional | Home-currency option for some cards |
| Lawson Bank | ¥50,000, in ¥10,000 steps | 24-hour service with a 15-minute maintenance stop between 03:00 and 04:00 | Depends on card and issuer; fee appears before final approval | |
| AEON Bank | ¥50,000 | Access follows the host location's opening hours | UnionPay: ¥75 including tax per use, plus the issuer's fee |
Source: Seven Bank – card conditions and currency selection, Japan Post Bank – service conditions and Japanese guidance, Lawson Bank – international ATMs and AEON Bank – FAQ (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Only documented currency-choice options are filled in. The empty cells do not establish that the other operators lack such a service.
Some online guides list different amounts. Seven Bank’s own wording settles the standard cap:
“For cards issued overseas, the limit for each withdrawal is 100,000 yen.”
Source: Seven Bank – overseas-card conditions (as of October 2026; confirmed 2 October 2026).
Keep the magnetic-stripe exception attached to that figure. Japan Post’s lower cap belongs to Japan Post; swapping the operators’ figures can send you to a machine with the wrong amount in mind.
Which card logos should you match?
Match the brand or network on your card to the ATM operator’s list. As of October 2026, the published lists are:
- Seven Bank: Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, American Express, JCB, Discover and Diners Club.
- Japan Post Bank: Visa, PLUS, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, JCB, China UnionPay and Discover.
- Lawson Bank: Visa, Plus, JCB, UnionPay, Mastercard, Maestro and Cirrus.
- AEON Bank: Visa/PLUS, Mastercard/Maestro/Cirrus and China UnionPay appear in both its card table and FAQ. Its card table also includes JCB and Discover; its FAQ omits those names.
Source: Seven Bank – supported brands, Japan Post Bank – supported networks, Lawson Bank – accepted cards and AEON Bank – card table and FAQ (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Use these lists to choose where to try, not to infer a particular issuer’s approval. A card logo answers the network question; it does not answer questions about your account’s overseas permissions or issuer charges.
Where can you find an ATM at the airport, on the street or late at night?
Choose the actual machine, not just the shop or airport name. An arrival plan should identify an accessible location and a fallback, rather than assume the first ATM you pass serves overseas cards.
Where should you look after landing?
Look for Seven Bank or a listed Lawson Bank international ATM on your airport route. Seven Bank’s location examples, as of October 2026, include New Chitose, Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai, Fukuoka and Naha airports. Its network extends beyond airports to 7-Eleven stores, department stores, supermarkets and outlets.
Source: Seven Bank – ATM locations for overseas cards (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Lawson Bank’s airport examples include Haneda Terminal 3, Narita Terminal 1 B1F, Narita Terminal 3, Kansai and Naha. The list available as of October 2026 carries its own March 2026 information date.
Source: Lawson Bank – airport ATM examples (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Use the terminal detail when planning your stop. An ATM elsewhere in the airport is not automatically a convenient part of your walk from arrivals to onward transport. Avoid building a tight connection around a machine identified only by the airport’s name.
What should you look for in town?
Start with the operator’s name on the machine. Japan Post provides its overseas-card withdrawal service across its domestic ATM network, including post-office machines and compact units at locations such as FamilyMart. The compact machines have a different schedule from the post-office group.
Source: Japan Post Bank – international ATM locations and service (as of October 2026; confirmed 2 October 2026).
For Lawson and AEON, establish that the specific machine handles overseas cards. Lawson explicitly notes that some stores lack a suitable ATM; AEON directs travelers to its ATM search. Save the operator and location together so that a familiar store sign does not become your only navigation clue.
Source: Lawson Bank – international ATM coverage and AEON Bank – finding an ATM (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Which schedules matter after a late arrival?
Match the service window to both your card’s brand and the location. Seven Bank’s schedule, as of October 2026, groups the brands this way:
- Visa and Mastercard: 00:00–24:00.
- UnionPay, JCB and Discover: 00:10–23:50.
- American Express: 00:05–23:50.
- Diners Club: 00:05–23:55.
Source: Seven Bank – brand-specific service hours (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Seven Bank offers service throughout the year, with maintenance interruptions possible. The brand’s window is therefore more useful than simply describing a 7-Eleven ATM as an overnight option.
Source: Seven Bank – year-round network and maintenance (confirmed 2 October 2026).
For Japan Post’s bank and post-office group, the October 2026 schedule is 07:00–23:00 Monday through Saturday, excluding holidays; Sundays, holidays and December 31–January 3 use 07:00–21:00. Compact machines at locations such as FamilyMart generally run 00:05–23:55, with a monthly late-start day beginning at 07:00. Individual sites and holiday maintenance also affect access.
Source: Japan Post Bank – English service hours and Japanese service hours (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Lawson Bank describes a 24-hour service with a 15-minute maintenance break somewhere between 03:00 and 04:00, as of October 2026. AEON access follows the opening hours of the premises housing the ATM. A broad service-hours label is not permission to enter a closed building.
Source: Lawson Bank – operating hours and AEON Bank – location-dependent access (confirmed 2 October 2026).
What happens on the ATM screen?
Choose a language you can read, enter the withdrawal details, then review your request before approving. Follow the machine’s prompts rather than expect identical screens across the operators.
How do you get to the amount selection?
Seven Bank and Lawson Bank guide you through language, account and PIN choices before the yen amount. Seven Bank’s instructions begin with inserting the card with its magnetic stripe facing down, selecting a language and choosing the cash-withdrawal function. At AEON, start from the opening menu and select the overseas-card function before choosing the language and continuing.
Source: Seven Bank – transaction steps, Lawson Bank – transaction steps and AEON Bank – starting the overseas-card service (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Seven Bank supports 12 screen languages, including English; its receipt uses your chosen language too. Lawson offers Japanese, English, simplified Chinese and Korean. Selecting English removes the need to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar confirmation screen.
Source: Seven Bank – available languages and receipt language, Lawson Bank – screen languages (as of October 2026; confirmed 2 October 2026).
Choose an amount that fits the operator’s cap and your spending plan. At Lawson Bank, as of October 2026, the amount must increase in ¥10,000 steps, with ¥50,000 as its transaction maximum. An amount below the ceiling still needs to fit those steps.
Source: Lawson Bank – amount selection (confirmed 2 October 2026).
What does the home-currency choice mean?
It changes when the amount in your home currency becomes fixed. Dynamic currency conversion, or DCC, is the option to establish that home-currency amount during the ATM transaction instead of settling in yen for later conversion by your issuer.
Seven Bank offers this choice for Visa and Mastercard, as of October 2026. Choosing home currency establishes the amount at the machine; choosing yen leaves conversion into your home currency until billing. Japan Post offers a home-currency option for some cards.
Source: Seven Bank – currency-selection explanation and Japan Post Bank – currency options (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Read the displayed currency and amount deliberately. The immediate certainty of a home-currency figure and the timing of later conversion are different features; neither description by itself establishes which costs less. Compare what the screen offers with your issuer’s terms rather than treat the language of the screen as a price recommendation.
Which fee are you approving?
Separate the machine’s charge from the issuer’s charges and currency conversion. Lawson’s final review displays the withdrawal amount and fee before you approve it. Seven Bank describes brand-dependent charges, while Japan Post’s published charge for certain overseas cards is ¥220 including tax per use, and AEON’s UnionPay charge is ¥75 including tax per use, plus the issuer’s fee, as of October 2026.
Source: Lawson Bank – final review, Seven Bank – fee basis, Japan Post Bank – conditional charge and AEON Bank – UnionPay charge (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Those conditional figures are not interchangeable quotes for every card. Seven Bank also explains that a chargeable transaction incurs its fee each time, so splitting a planned withdrawal into repeated transactions has a fee consequence to consider. Finish by collecting the cash, card and receipt; Lawson’s sequence returns the card and receipt before dispensing the cash.
Source: Seven Bank – repeated transactions and collection and Lawson Bank – completion sequence (confirmed 2 October 2026).
What should you do when a withdrawal does not work?
Identify the failure before repeating the same transaction. A PIN problem, an unsuitable amount and an inaccessible machine call for different next steps.
- An amount error at Seven Bank: lower the requested sum and begin again. Its October 2026 caps are ¥100,000 normally and ¥30,000 for magnetic-stripe transactions; a figure within the normal ceiling can still exceed the magnetic-stripe ceiling.
- A PIN error at Seven Bank: contact the card issuer. Moving between machines without resolving the PIN issue does not answer the problem identified by the bank’s guidance.
Source: Seven Bank – error guidance and transaction caps (confirmed 2 October 2026).
If the location is the problem, search for a supported machine instead of another store with the same sign. Use Lawson Bank’s international ATM locator or AEON Bank’s ATM locator. These are the search destinations supplied by the banks’ own international-service pages.
Source: Lawson Bank – locator guidance and AEON Bank – ATM search guidance (confirmed 2 October 2026).
A failed stop is not conclusive evidence that your card is incompatible. JNTO notes that some machines are unavailable overnight and that centrally located ATMs sometimes exhaust their cash supply. Reassess the location and service window before concluding that the whole network rejects your card.
Source: JNTO – cash and ATM planning (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Keep the useful detail from the attempt: which operator you used, what amount you requested and what the screen said. That gives you a concrete question for the issuer rather than an unexplained report that an ATM in Japan failed.
What should you check with your card issuer before you fly?
Ask about overseas cash access, your PIN and the issuer’s charges before departure. An ATM operator’s published cap cannot substitute for answers about your particular card.
Use this short list to prepare the conversation:
- Is this card enabled for cash withdrawals in Japan?
- Which PIN and account selection should you use at an overseas ATM?
- What restrictions does the issuer place on the amount you can withdraw?
- What charges does the issuer apply to overseas cash access and conversion?
- How should you contact the issuer after an unsuccessful withdrawal?
The practical distinction is between the operator letting you request a transaction and your issuer’s terms for that transaction. Japan Post explicitly separates its conditional ATM charge from charges imposed by the issuing institution; Lawson describes fees as depending on both the card and issuer.
Source: Japan Post Bank – issuer-side charges and Lawson Bank – card and issuer conditions (confirmed 2 October 2026).
For the shopping side of your budget, use the Japan tax-free shopping and refund guide; the purchase and refund process is separate from getting yen at an ATM.
If you are moving to Japan rather than visiting, use the bank-account guide for foreign residents for the separate task of opening a local account.
FAQ
Can Japan Post’s international service show my account balance?
No: Japan Post’s overseas-card service supports cash withdrawal, not a balance inquiry. Arrange another way to view your account through its issuer instead of relying on that ATM function.
Source: Japan Post Bank – available transactions (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Can an AEON ATM dispense foreign money instead of yen?
No: AEON’s overseas-card service dispenses Japanese yen, not foreign money. Plan on collecting yen rather than using the machine to obtain cash in your home currency.
Source: AEON Bank – available currency (confirmed 2 October 2026).
Can I ask for help in English at an AEON ATM?
Yes: AEON lists English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese support through the ATM intercom. Use that help channel for questions at the machine rather than assume assistance follows the same language list as its screen.
Source: AEON Bank – intercom assistance (as of October 2026; confirmed 2 October 2026).
Can I use Seven Bank for a Welcome Suica cash top-up?
Yes: Seven Bank supports cash loading for transport e-money, including Welcome Suica. Use the Welcome Suica and Suica options guide to choose the transit product separately from the foreign card used to obtain yen.
Source: Seven Bank – transport e-money cash loading (confirmed 2 October 2026).
When does carrying cash require a customs declaration?
Japan Customs says cash or other covered means of payment worth more than ¥1,000,000, or the equivalent in another currency, must be declared when entering or leaving Japan; the Visit Japan Web and arrival-paperwork guide covers the related arrival process. Keep the border declaration separate from the ATM’s transaction cap.
Source: Japan Customs – passenger clearance (as of October 2026; confirmed 2 October 2026).
What to remember
Start with Seven Bank or Japan Post Bank; locate a supported machine before relying on Lawson Bank or AEON Bank.
Match the requested amount to its per-withdrawal cap, including Seven Bank’s magnetic-stripe exception, and match access hours to your card and location.
Read the fee and currency choice before approval, keeping the ATM’s conditions separate from your issuer’s terms.