Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

Best way to buy Japanese yen for travel?
Check whether you're being charged a "Cash advance" fee with your withdrawals, because it's being withdrawn from your credit card account. If that's happening to you, then having a positive balance on your credit card account will dramatically reduce the fees. Quoting from my answer to a similar question on Travel Stack Exchange: It turns out that even though "Cash advance fee - ATM" has "ATM" in   it, it doesn't mean that it's being charged by the ATM you're   withdrawing from. It's still being charged by the bank of your home   country. And depending on your bank, that fee can be minimized by having a   positive balance in your credit card account. This isn't just for   cards specially marketed at globehoppers and globeshoppers   (mentioned in an answer to a similar question), but even for   ordinary credit cards: Help minimise and avoid fees An administrative charge of 2% of the value of the transaction will     apply to each cash advance made on your card account, where your     account has a negative (debit) balance after the transaction has been     posted to it. A minimum charge of $2.50 and a maximum charge of $150     will apply in these circumstances. Where your account has a positive     (credit) balance after the transaction has been posted to it, a charge     of $2.50 will apply to the transaction. Any such charge will appear on     your credit card statement directly below the relevant cash advance. A $2.50 charge if your account is positive, versus $20 if the account   is negative? That's a bit of a difference!