Canadian here. Most of our banking is electronic in Canada and I just don’t physical currency much. I mostly stuck with using paper currency in Japan this past summer.
I couldn’t find a quick and easy way to easily convert my coins back to paper yen before the flight home so used up some of my baggage weight allowance with a big sack of Japanese coins. Any tips?
I don’t mind paying a percentage to do it but don’t want to count myself. If there’s a shortage of coins in Japan right now it’s because all your yen are in my luggage.
Banks here used to have machines to do it with Canadian coins but with few people using coins now they all got removed.
Plan B was to pour my 2kg sack-o-yen into a temple donation box and reap the good Karma for years to come.
Do you still have a bank account? You can deposit about 100 coins into the ATM at once. Usually only the ATMs in a branch will accept coins. These days, most banks will charge you for more than that.
Also, if you put too many coins into the self registers, they will return bills as change.
But yeah, these days there is no quick and easy way to do it if you have 2kg as you say.
You could also use it to charge Suica, but the machines don’t accept the smaller coins.
I’ve never had the problem you’re experiencing to be honest. I use electronic money almost exclusively these days, and when I get coins I use them as I go.
Anyway, good luck!