7-Eleven and Post Offices are the only places which accept cards issued outside of Japan. I assume they have to cover all possible types of cards, otherwise people from other countries could get stuck without money here that way.

Some other combinis also accept foreign cards, but yes, getting money from a foreign credit/debit card in Japan can be difficult.

I hope this doesn't make it even harder to do so.

The international ones (every 7-11 atm) have to accept everything. My Japanese card doesn't even have a magstripe, only chip and pin, so the hometown banks aren't as stupid as this may make them seem.

South Africa has had chip-and-pin cards for a very long time, but like many other countries the magstripe was kept for compatibility with US cards (I was told). I used to think this was common the world over. Not so?

(I know the US recently went chip-and-pin.)

Yeah, it's really odd. Only Post Office and 7-11 ATMs work with my non-PIN credit card. (Mine also has a chip, though.)