An ATM is a shop with one product: your own money, priced. The machine's fee is printed on the screen. The exchange rate is not, and that is the part that costs more.
Japan: the convenience store is the bank
Japanese bank branches are mostly a dead end for cards issued abroad. The machines that work are in convenience stores and post offices.
| Network | Where | Limit per withdrawal | Operator fee | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seven Bank | 7-Eleven stores nationwide | ¥100,000 (¥30,000 for magnetic-stripe transactions) | Roughly ¥110 to ¥220, depending on card brand | Around the clock for Visa and Mastercard |
| Japan Post Bank | Post offices, some FamilyMart stores | ¥50,000 | ¥220 may apply to overseas cards | 07:00–23:00 Monday to Saturday, 07:00–21:00 Sundays and holidays |
Branch ATMs at the big commercial banks often refuse foreign cards outright, and they keep banking hours in a country where the convenience store does not. Plan around the convenience store.
Two details are worth knowing before you insert the card. First, balance enquiries usually are not available with overseas cards, so keep your own tally. Second, some machines will offer to settle the withdrawal in your home currency — accept and you have just bought a worse exchange rate at the machine. Decline, take the yen, and let the card issuer convert.
Korea: the ATM is everywhere, the fee is on the screen
Korean bank ATMs and the machines inside convenience stores (CU, GS25, Emart24) generally accept foreign cards, with an operator fee of a few thousand won per withdrawal that appears before you confirm. Some bank lobbies lock their ATMs outside branch hours; convenience-store machines are the reliable option at night.
Korean machines ask the same currency question. The answer is won. A ₩100,000 withdrawal converted to your home currency at the machine can carry a markup several times larger than the ₩3,000-ish operator fee you were worried about.
Per-transaction limits are often set by the issuing bank rather than the machine, so if a withdrawal is refused, the amount — not the card — is usually the problem. Try a smaller number before you conclude the machine is broken.
The maths of one big withdrawal
Suppose the operator charges ¥220 flat. Three withdrawals of ¥10,000 cost ¥660 in fees alone, about 2.2% before any exchange markup. One withdrawal of ¥30,000 costs ¥220, about 0.7%. The same principle holds in Korea: the fee is per use, not per won.
There is a limit to this advice. Carrying a week's cash in a single pocket is a different kind of risk, and travel insurance rarely covers a lost envelope. Two withdrawals, not five, is usually the right compromise.
Before you fly
- Tell your bank you are travelling, or the first withdrawal may be blocked as fraud.
- Check the daily withdrawal limit and raise it if the week's cash exceeds it.
- Memorise the PIN; some machines will not fall back to signature.
- Carry a second card on a different network, stored apart from the first.
- Keep the ATM receipt until you have checked the statement — it is the only record of the rate you accepted.