Cash & coins

Leftover Yen: What To Do With Japanese Coins Before You Fly Home

By Takumi, in Tokyo · Updated September 2026

Here's a fact that surprises people at the worst possible moment: currency exchange counters outside Japan generally refuse coins. Notes, fine. Coins, no. Whatever metal is in your pocket when you board the plane is, for practical purposes, a souvenir.

And Japan makes sure there's a lot of metal. No tipping, no "keep the change," prices with unrounded tax — every cash payment mints a fresh handful of ¥1, ¥10 and ¥100 coins. Two weeks of this and most travelers are carrying ¥1,000–¥3,000 in coins without noticing.

Your options, ranked

1. Spend them down as you go (best). Convenience store self-checkouts have a coin tray — dump the whole handful in and the machine counts it and takes what it needs. Zero embarrassment, staff never involved. Vending machines and train-ticket machines eat coins happily too. Make "pay with coins at the konbini" a daily habit from day one and the mountain never forms.
2. Pocket Change kiosks (best for the final day). Machines at major airports, big electronics stores, and some stations that convert leftover yen — coins included, up to 50 coins per go — into digital money: PayPal, Amazon gift cards, transit top-ups and more. The exchange rate carries roughly a 1–2% spread and there's a minimum amount, but it beats a jar of dead metal. Note: they pay out digitally only — no foreign cash comes out.
3. Load them onto an IC card. Station charge machines accept coins for Suica/ICOCA top-ups in ¥10 units at some machines — then spend the card balance at any konbini. Careful with the reverse trap though: tourist Suica balances themselves expire and are hard to refund, so don't park money there on your last day.
4. Charity boxes. Airports have donation boxes (UNICEF and others) at security and gates. The zero-effort option for the final ¥73.
5. Pay part of your hotel bill in cash. Many hotels happily take exact coins toward checkout. Ask.

The last-48-hours playbook

• Two days out: stop withdrawing cash. Switch to card wherever cards work, and burn cash only where you must.
• Last evening: pay for dinner or konbini runs with your coin stash via self-checkout. Aim to be down to notes only.
• At the airport: notes exchange fine at home (or keep them — yen is a respectable thing to have for trip two). Coins: Pocket Change kiosk, one last vending-machine coffee, or the donation box.

Related money leaks on the way out

Leftover coins are one of three ways money quietly dies at the end of a Japan trip. The other two: tourist Suica balances that expire unrefunded, and — from November 1, 2026 — tax refunds you forget to claim under the new airport refund system. A five-minute check before you fly covers all three.