Last night, for perhaps the fifth or sixth time, I wandered into Mami-Mart (the local grocery store) cashless with the intent of buying groceries for dinner. Also for the fifth or sixth time, I failed to recall that Mami-Mart's ATM was recently stolen (ala the movie "Barbershop") and they don't take credit. I returned home with no food.
In fact, I can probably count the number of stores I've been to on two hands that actually take credit. And that pisses me off. See normally, were I back home and realized I had no cash, I could continue happily filling my grocery basket to the brim and pay with credit. Here, already halfway through filling the basket, I'm forced to abandon the venture and put everything back. I can surely say that in a grocery store where I already have no clue where anything is, it's pretty hard to figure out where stuff should be returned to.
For such a technologically advanced (arguably the most advanced in terms of gadgetry) society, Japan sure is behind the times. It's not uncommon for someone to be carrying around $500 in their wallet. To me that seems absolutely assanine. Sure, there's less crime so therefore you're less likely to be mugged or something, but what if you lose your wallet? Well there goes your $500. So okay, I decided I guess I'm going to have to get hundreds of dollars in cash every time I go to the ATM. Easier said than done.
You see, so everyone needs cash all the time. You'd think that would lead to a relatively advanced ATM network. Of course not! It's like no one has heard of the concept of a 24-hour ATM. Every ATM I have ever been to here has a closing time ... usually at about 7PM or something. So if I go out after that without any cash, I'm pretty much screwed until I can hopefully find a convenience store with a working ATM that actually accepts my bank card (which is another problem, there's no universal system). I can't tell you how much of a mooch I feel like sometimes because I haven't yet adjusted to this stupid cash-based nonsense and I have to borrow money. I hate it. On top of that, if you are getting money outside of the bank's hours (9-5, conveniently when I and everyone else work) you get charged by your own bank to take out money at the bank's own ATM.
I hear we can use our cellphones now as a credit card thanks to RFID technology. How can that possibly make things any more useful, I ask, when most stores don't even take credit cards? How the hell are you going to convince these stores, who are too stingy to buy a credit card machine, to go out and buy some sort of newfangled RFID reading machine? Good luck.
So while the rest of the world is speeding along in payment technology, Japan is still moving at the rate of cash, roughly at the same level where the U.S. was in the 80's. I guess that's the real reason why I never have any food. Because I never have stupid cash. Yeah it's my problem but dammit, if you're gonna kick the crap out of every other country in terms of cool technology, why don't you at least equal them in how to pay for that technology! Nothing is more ludicrous (or like a drug dealer), in my opinion, than paying for something like a computer in cash. But I have seen it done.
I have been able to use my credit card a grand total of maybe 5 times in the two months I have been here. In the span of two months at home, I would've probably used my two cards 15 or 20 times each. What convenience! Oh to swipe the plastic with nary a thought ... what joy!
Travelers beware: prepare for your card to become a useless piece of plastic. Maybe I could do something useful with this ... like melt it and get wacky on the fumes.