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Japan’s Pocket Change turns old foreign currency into e-cash like WeChat credit or iTunes and Uber vouchers

  • Pocket Change kiosks at airports and in other metropolitan areas exchange bills and coins of all denominations into e-cash
  • You can also donate to one of the three charities available on the service

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Thanks to Pocket Change, you can also use leftover foreign coins to recharge your transport card in Japan.

With the Rugby World Cup in full swing in Japan and the 2020 Olympics on the horizon, the country is setting its sights on being more internationally accessible and adaptable.

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But the nation’s reliance on physical cash is still a daily cultural quirk many travellers are struggling to adjust to. As a result, there’s a lot of wasted currency floating around.

Enter Pocket Change, a money exchange kiosk that does more than just exchanging one currency for another. Instead, Japan’s latest travel invention collects all your leftover foreign coins and trades the accumulated amount into vouchers and e-cash to use in your home currency.

Available vouchers and e-cash depend on the partnering “vendors” of each specific nation. You can convert the money you have into e-cash such as Reward Link credit (in Singapore), WeChat credit (China), YBCoin credit (Hong Kong) or public transport card top-ups in Japan. Alternatively, you can opt for a voucher equal to the accumulated amount you deposited in the machine. iTunes, Uber and even Domino’s Pizza are some of the vendors offering vouchers through the service.
A Pocket Change machine in Tokyo railway station in Japan. The kiosk turns currencies into e-cash such as WeChat credit or iTunes and Uber vouchers.
A Pocket Change machine in Tokyo railway station in Japan. The kiosk turns currencies into e-cash such as WeChat credit or iTunes and Uber vouchers.
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Say you had a 500 Japanese yen (US$4.60) coin, three euros, and 700 Korean won floating around at the bottom of your bag. You could head to a Pocket Change kiosk and cash it all out as, for example, YBCoin currency for the current exchange rate, which at the moment would be about HK$67. Alternatively, you could donate to one of the three charities available on the service.

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