So, you've saved up a tidy sum of money (lets say £10k), and you're flying to Japan in october on a WHV for a year, and you want to get that money into yen and into a JP bank account (which you don't have yet) without taking a 5-10% hit through conversion fees, commission, poor exchange rates etc etc. I don't want to do Travellers Cheques as the exchange rates are pretty terrible it seems, and I know from experience it's a bit of hassle changing them into cash in Japan.
Anyone done this? Any recommendations?

[RawToast]

As you're from the UK, I see most of our "international accounts" are for US Dollars and Euros...

Giajinpot has a few threads on this. Many recommending sending the money from the UK/US as GBP/USD as an international transfer. Then converting the money using the Japanese banking facilities.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if one the of the smaller bank/building societies had a competitive rate.

Have a look at this:
http://www.sendmoney.org.uk/to-japan/from-uk

I was lucky the first time I moved overseas, my tiny middle-of-nowhere bank (in Arkansas, USA) had zero fees on foreign transactions, ATMs, etc. Look around, you might find one that does what you need.

I'm just about to move over to Japan again, and my time is just too valuable to search around like that again (and I'm pretty sure there aren't any banks like that in San Francisco). I'm going to do one large wire, and accept the surcharge. It's not worth my time/effort, since I have other things to focus on.

Thanks guys. There's only the one bank in the UK that has free international transfers (Metro) and they only have branches down south
That TorFX looks quite good though. Thanks RawToast

[RawToast]

There's always the post office:

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/internationa...sfer+broad

Charles Schwab Brokerage Checking account. They have a global card and allow customers from the UK and Switzerland. You have to get a brokerage account but the catch is that it doesn't cost anything nor do you have to invest any money to use the checking account.

The card you get is arguably one of the best in the world for international travel due to:

1. No currency exchange fees.

2. No ATM fees regardless of the ATM company. Yes you read that right. Charles Schwab reimburses you for all ATM fees at the end of the month.

3. Almost unbelievable customer service for a bank. You call them at any time and you will immediately get a person on the line. I don't think I've ever had to wait more than maybe 20 seconds but the best thing is that all of the representatives are trained extremely well. These aren't some call center guys reading from a check list.

With this card there is no reason to actually have money in a Japanese bank account. I lived in Japan for years without a single penny in my Japanese account and basically only had it to help with things like renting an apartment.

I like to transfer a large amount on my visa card. When I'm abroad, I just go to the ATM that accept visa and take out some money as a cash advance. Since my balance is positive they don't charge me anything for this advance. The only fee is a 2% conversion rate which is probably the lower you can find on the market.

With this :
- I keep my fees really low
- I can have access to cash anywhere, anytime
- I don't have to carry a lot of paper money with me

Hope this help!