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For a view on another part of the world, just in 2012 in Japan it seemed like about nobody knew about these. Some stores didn't even know they had a pad for ent

by seszett 13y ago

For a view on another part of the world, just in 2012 in Japan it seemed like about nobody knew about these. Some stores didn't even know they had a pad for entering a PIN, and some didn't know what was the "enter secret code" instruction. I only understood that after a week and maybe ten or so places had told me "your card doesn't work", when some hotel tenant called her daughter to translate things, and she knew about chip and pin and was excited to see how it worked. I'm pretty sure all the other places just saw some message they didn't really understand, and just thought "the card doesn't work", when in fact they probably just had a pad somewhere that was waiting for my input. Just before that, we had stayed in Taiwan and used the same card pretty much everywhere with absolutely no problem.

newman314 13y ago
Japan is still highly cash based per transaction.
kalleboo 13y ago
That's odd, how far out in the sticks were you? I've used my european chip card extensively in Japan for the past 3 years with no confusion whatsoever, and most places that take cards have a chip reader that they use immediately. Nobody has ever said my card doesn't work. There's actually way more confusion when I pull out a WAON card or something. It's been more of a problem in places in Thailand and Singapore where they're not really equipped to hand over the card terminal and sometimes I have to go behind the desk or something.
- seszett 13y ago
  The first place I had a problem was actually a Honda (I think?) car rental office in Shinjuku, not a place where I expected a problem (and not the easiest thing to pay in cash, though that's what we eventually did). Then a few hotels and ryokans mostly around Nagano and Toyama. The 7/11 ATMs worked fine though (but the card didn't work to pay directly, it did at Lawson though, IIRC) so we just used cash everywhere, but I liked to keep trying to use the card, as I was really not sure what was happening. It's in a small hotel in Obama that I finally understood what was happening, after the woman first asked me to "write my secret code" on a piece of paper (she didn't know the keypad was attached to a long cord and that she was supposed to let me enter the PIN myself, her daughter figured - or knew - that). I don't really remember but I think we just didn't have many issues afterwards, once in the larger cities of the Kansai. It was kind of a pain to have to use cash so much because my card had a rather low limit on cash withdrawal at foreign ATMs (of course, my other card had been mailed by mistake by my bank to my former place just before I left). I just didn't expect at all that it would be so difficult in Japan.

by seszett 13y ago

newman314 13y ago

Japan is still highly cash based per transaction.

kalleboo 13y ago

That's odd, how far out in the sticks were you? I've used my european chip card extensively in Japan for the past 3 years with no confusion whatsoever, and most places that take cards have a chip reader that they use immediately. Nobody has ever said my card doesn't work. There's actually way more confusion when I pull out a WAON card or something. It's been more of a problem in places in Thailand and Singapore where they're not really equipped to hand over the card terminal and sometimes I have to go behind the desk or something.

seszett 13y ago
The first place I had a problem was actually a Honda (I think?) car rental office in Shinjuku, not a place where I expected a problem (and not the easiest thing to pay in cash, though that's what we eventually did). Then a few hotels and ryokans mostly around Nagano and Toyama. The 7/11 ATMs worked fine though (but the card didn't work to pay directly, it did at Lawson though, IIRC) so we just used cash everywhere, but I liked to keep trying to use the card, as I was really not sure what was happening. It's in a small hotel in Obama that I finally understood what was happening, after the woman first asked me to "write my secret code" on a piece of paper (she didn't know the keypad was attached to a long cord and that she was supposed to let me enter the PIN myself, her daughter figured - or knew - that). I don't really remember but I think we just didn't have many issues afterwards, once in the larger cities of the Kansai. It was kind of a pain to have to use cash so much because my card had a rather low limit on cash withdrawal at foreign ATMs (of course, my other card had been mailed by mistake by my bank to my former place just before I left). I just didn't expect at all that it would be so difficult in Japan.