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As Japan adjusts both technologically and demographically to cater to both citizens and visitors alike, the banking industry is also in a state of adjustment. The broad acceptance of available tech that makes it easy to pay without real money and a public savvy to mobile payments both inside and outside of Japan is encouraging banks to decrease the number of cash machines and raise fees for withdrawing cash from the remaining devices. One other likely reason for this new trend is the fact that Japan’s working population is shrinking and the numbers of techs and money couriers to service the multitude of machines across the land is stagnant as well, driving up the backend maintenance costs. So what does this mean to us as expat residents of Japan and how can we sidestep the fees? Debit it As I have stated in earlier articles, many of Japan’s banks have finally jumped on the debit card bandwagon. Find out if your bank offers a branded debit card (those that are welcome wherever Visa, MasterCard, and JCB are) and get one. Many banks are starting to abolish fees associated with having one of these cards, raising ATM withdrawal fees, both on…