Siliconchef by Brian Richardson
Tuesday, April 8, 2003. 8:03AM.
Tokyo Dome Hotel. Tokyo, Japan.
Note to Americans preparing to head overseas: never take your ATM card for granted.
Right now I’m in the hotel lobby, waiting on Justin to appear. He wasn’t quite ready to go, so I decided to exchange a few dollars at the counter. I had a much easier time getting a hold of more yen than Justin. My travel partner burned up most of his spare cash purchasing clothes to replace his misdirected juggage. Proper business attire is not cheap, especially at current exchange rates.
While I packed a suit & shirt in my carry-on luggage, Justin opted not to prepare a reserve set of business clothes. The trade-off for me was that Briefcase 2.0 had to be checked, so I did run the risk of having the product diverted. Given the choice, I’d rather show up unprepared and properly dressed then fully equipped in yesterday’s blue jeans. This does go against my normal way of thinking, but I’m not on native soil.
How does that old saying go … “When in Rome, get drunk and wear a toga” … well, something like that.
Justin spent last night searching for a bank that would take his ATM card. It took me a few trips to figure out that Citibank machines would take my card. There used to be a Citibank ATM near the office, but that location closed. It took Justin over an hour of subway rides, taxi cabs and misdirection to find a working machine. Citibank’s maps still show many locations that closed months ago. Kenny, the local sales rep who served as Justin’s guide, was very mad … very, very mad.
Justin’s luggage arrived at the hotel right before he trturned from the ATM hunt. It’s good that we know the location of American-friendly cash dispensers. I’m sure I will need to obtain more yen soon to cover the day-to-day costs of working around Tokyo. The new American culture of “cash on demand” via ATM does make us take that little rectangle of plastic for granted. Leaving home without American Express isn’t nearly as problematic as leaving the country without a stack of dead presidents.
Bad luck about the ATMs, but did no-one tell you to go to a post office ATM? Back in 2001 post office ATMs were enabled to take foreign credit cards thus solving teh problem of finding open ATMs.
Also in Shibuya, Tokyo there is a Citibank credit card atm beside the Mizuho bank (exit Hachiko, turn right, bank across the road)that accepts foreign cards.