In Tokyo, most fast-food chain restaurant and konbini (convenience store) cashiers can speak English, since they often serve tourists and it is a common baito (part-time job) for foreigners living in Japan. The further you travel outside of major cities, the more often you see signs written only in Japanese, without English translations.
The currency used here is the Japanese yen (abbreviated as JPY, monetary symbol ￥, kanji 円). To mentally convert yen to American dollars, think ￥100 is about $1.00. Just move the decimal two places to the left. The most common paper bills in Japan are ￥10,000 ($100), ￥5,000 ($50), ￥1000 ($10). The common coins are ￥500 ($5), ￥100 ($1), ￥10, ￥5, and ￥1.
Japan is still a cash-based economy, so many establishments only accept cash. Although there are credit cards, and forms of electronic payment are starting to gain attention for convenience, many machines used in Japan were originally built to accept only cash and coins. For example, when you buy meals at some restaurants, you have to pay first by selecting the dish from a machine, feeding in the appropriate paper bills or coins, then handing the order receipt to the restaurant staff.
Since I was an international student, I was not allowed to apply for a credit card, but I needed to open a Japanese bank account to pay my monthly dorm rent. Along with my Japanese bank account, I was given an A.T.M. card. Because I have to withdraw cash frequently, I also downloaded the bank's app, which had G.P.S. locations of all of its A.T.M.s in the city.
