Japanese ATM Screen Vocabulary: Menus, PIN, Fees and Buttons

The core idea: one polite question per screen

A Japanese ATM behaves like a very polite clerk who asks for one thing at a time and waits. Each screen carries a single request, almost always ending in kudasai, please, and the buttons are your possible answers. The requests come in nearly the same order on every machine: what would you like to do, your card, your PIN, how much, is this right. Once you know the order, a screen you cannot fully read still tells you where you are. Most machines also speak the same words aloud, in formal service Japanese.

The main menu: six buttons to recognise

The first screen offers a handful of transactions. Layout varies by bank, and so does the spelling, so you may see お引出し or お引き出し, but the kanji at the core stay the same. The o- in front is an honorific prefix: the bank is being polite about your transaction.

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ご希望きぼうのお取引とりひきを選んえらんでください。Please choose the transaction you want.

Hikidashi is also the everyday word for a drawer: both pull something out. The slots below the screen have names too: kādo for the card, meisaihyō (明細票), literally 'details slip', for the printed record, tsūchō for the passbook and shihei for notes. A separate guide to the bank covers the counter, account opening and transfer details; this one stays at the machine.

A withdrawal, step by step

The flow diagram follows a cash withdrawal on a typical bank machine. The PIN, anshō bangō (暗証番号), literally 'secret proof number', has four digits. The amount is where learners stumble: Japanese counts in ten-thousands, man, and the keypad has a 万 key. For 30,000 yen you press 3, 万, then 円 to finish, exactly as you would say sanman-en. Most machines pay out notes only, in units of 1,000 yen.

Afterwards, a friend who talked you through it might say this, casually.

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まずカード入れいれて。Put your card in first.

Notice oroseta. The screen says hikidashi, but in conversation most people say okane o orosu, literally 'bring the money down'.

Teisei or torikeshi: the pair that matters

Three buttons appear again and again, and two of them look alike to a beginner because both undo something. The difference is scope. Teisei (訂正), literally 'revise and correct', clears what you typed on the current screen so you can type it again; you stay in the transaction. Torikeshi (取消), literally 'take and erase', abandons the whole transaction and returns your card. English cancel covers both, which is why learners press the wrong one. On the flow diagram, teisei is the short loop back and torikeshi is the exit.

Beyond the basics: fees, hours and error messages

Fees, tesūryō (手数料), literally a 'number of hands charge', meaning a charge for the work involved, depend on the bank, the machine's owner, the day and the time. Many banks charge little or nothing at their own machines on weekday daytime and add a jikangai tesūryō, an out-of-hours fee, in the evening, at weekends and on holidays. Some bank machines close at night altogether. Most machines show the fee on the confirmation screen, your last chance to press torikeshi. These are the messages you are most likely to meet.

Convenience-store ATMs

The ATM in a convenience store belongs to a bank or an ATM operator, not to the shop. Many are open around the clock apart from short maintenance breaks, accept cards from a wide range of Japanese banks, and take many cards issued abroad, with an English screen. They handle notes only, never coins, and usually charge a fee that depends on your bank and the time. The order differs slightly: you often insert the card first, then choose the transaction. With friends, the everyday phrases are simple.

When the machine keeps your card

It is rare, but it happens: a jam, a power cut, or a card left too long in the slot and pulled back in. Stay at the machine. Every ATM has a handset or call button, often labelled intāhon or kakariin yobidashi, literally 'call the attendant', which connects you to the operator's staff. In a convenience store the shop staff usually cannot open the machine, though they can show you the handset. Note the time and the last message on the screen before you pick it up; the operator will ask. They will tell you whether the card can be released now or must be reissued through your bank.

Common mistakes at Japanese ATMs

Forgetting the man key. English speakers think in thousands, so they type 3 and 円 for thirty thousand and get an error. Say the number in Japanese first, sanman-en, and press what you say.

Pressing torikeshi to fix a typo. Cancel sounds like the right button, but it throws away the whole transaction. Teisei clears a typo.

Choosing o-furikomi when you mean o-furikae. Both start with furi and both move money. Furikomi sends it to someone else; furikae moves it between your own accounts.

Asking for an exact figure such as 15,500 yen. Most machines pay only in 1,000-yen units and never coins, so the request is refused. Round to the thousand.

Walking away at the first beep. The card, slip and notes can come out at different moments, and the machine beeps until you have taken everything. Wait until it stops.