Originally Posted by
aster
I take it I can forget about such small spreads in Tokyo and would be better off bringing some Yen purchased from here (in addition to cards for ATM access)?
Yes, that's what I would do. When I visited Japan from Hong Kong, I bought yen beforehand and brought them with me. I had my ATM card as a back up in case I need more money. With ATM fee charged by my HK bank account, I got worse exchange rate with ATM card than buying yen at the bank counter in HK.