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A couple of days ago Mastercard issued an alert that non-Asian Maestro-branded chip-and-pin debit cards can’t be used in Japan currently, until the ATM network here finishes being upgraded. It’s a very specific subset of cards, but if you have one of these cards and are coming to Japan in the near future, don’t rely on that as your only source of money. There are two good choices:
1) Bring another source of money, such as a credit card.
2) You can send money to GenkiJACS’ Unipay account, and we will give it to you as cash at school.
1) Bring another source of money, such as a credit card.
2) You can send money to GenkiJACS’ Unipay account, and we will give it to you as cash at school.
From Mastercard’s page giving info about the alert:
To: Cardholders of Maestro-branded EMV Cards issued outside of the Asia/Pacific Region
Re: Temporary Suspension of Maestro ATM Acceptance in Japan
Thank you very much for patronage with MasterCard. As of April 19, 2013, all Maestro-branded EMV cards issued outside of the Asia/Pacific region will be temporarily unable to withdraw currency at domestic ATMs, while the regional ATM network is upgraded.
Maestro-branded EMV cards issued within the Asia/Pacific Region, Maestro-branded cards without EMV chip, MasterCard-branded cards, and Cirrus-branded cards are not affected by this temporary suspension of service. Cardholders can continue to be able to use these other MasterCard products at ATMs and merchants across Japan.
MasterCard is working with these customer financial institutions to enable full acceptance of all cards as soon as possible.
Please accept our deep apology for the inconvenience caused.
