Alright,
This may be a silly question, but what is the easiest way to get rid of all the ¥5 and ¥1 coins that my children have accumulated in 4 years here? They have been filling jars, but we are not moving with them. Are there places which have machines for counting coins and converting them into bills?
Thanks

Hello Karyn,

Go to the post office and ask they will help you. If you have post office account ATM can deposit coins.

Karyn,
I was wondering the same thing recently and was told by some Japanese friends that any of the major banks have coin counting machines. Just hand over the jar and they will do the rest.

Hi,

we are leaving Japan next week and have a large collection of small change. Where can we take it to get it changed into notes? Will any of the banks accept it? Thanks

Janine
I had one friend with the same problem who took it all to Citibank in Hiroo.
She was told that she would have to bag it up herself and that they would not count it in their machine. So she then sat down in their comfortable lounge chairs and along with her 2 year old started to count it very noisily.
They put it through the machine for her within minutes!

Clever solution!

I looked into this recently and found that Japanese banks will count it in their machines, but they charge a small fee if it's not being deposited.

Janine- if you still have your bank account, they should accept the change as a deposit and count it.

I wonder about a post office bank... maybe they have to be more accommodating..