Japan is still quite cash oriented, and foreign card acceptance is also low. So you should at least have some cash and find an ATM at a 7-11 or postoffice (those will accept foreign cards).

You won't have a problem at hotels, but at smaller properties (and some bigger ones) cash is still needed.

I've always used this place: http://www.sanfranciscocurrencyexchange.com/
Click the "coupon" link at the bottom of the page for 50% off fees; I've used this company for years now.

Sounds like a plan...I will have to use more cash than credit this trip. Know anything about South Korea (Seoul only); much more wide-spread credit card use in that city, or similar to Japanese usage?

Thank you! If memory serves, I bought shekels there before a trip to Israel two summers ago.

Despite the 50% off coupon, they don't post their rates. For reference, Japan is one of the few countries where you get a fairly good deal at the airport upon arrival. They charge 2.5% for USD cash exchanges with no transaction fee. Doing the same at a US airport is more like 14%, and a commercial bank in the US is often 6-8%. I have no idea what the above company charges without calling them, but I doubt it's much less even after the 50% off than the 2.5% you can get just as a walk-up customer in Japan at the airport.

Yup. It smacks of "shell game" to me.

I wonder why people still do these exchanges, using an ATM on arrival is far cheaper for most.

I'm not sure how local you'd get. But for anything except convenience store, and market fruit, everyone took card in my experience (even the fish market sushi shop)

Thanks for the warnings, I'll just withdraw some emergency cash from an ATM at Narita in that case and rely on my Chase Sapphire for most of our spending.