Hey all, haven't been on here in a while but I have a quick question: I'm going to be in Japan for the next six months (!!) and I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way to transfer money to myself over there. It will probably be in several installments, so if possible I'd like to figure out a way to avoid wire transfer fees. Are there perhaps any banks with branches both in the US and Japan that allow you to transfer free of charge, or are there other well-known tricks?

Thanks!

Shouldn't you be able to withdraw money in Japan from your foreign account? Worked for me.

I've no idea, where you go and how the monetary situation is, where you are.
Here in Germany we have some banks who offer fee-free visa cash withdrawal on ATMs.
There's a real kicker though, while most Japanese Banks sport the familiar VISA logo, you won't succeed in withdrawing money there, as they are VISA-Japan only. (Excuse was: we have no contract with a foreign oversea bank, so we cannot bill your bank.)

Luckily, last year I found a Citi Bank in Osaka, where I was able to withdraw with my VISA, fee-free. Yes, it's a visa debit card.

So, if you know ahead of your trip where you will be exactly, checking for foreign bank branches in the cities. And having a VISA card should be enough. IIRC, I withdrew some money at a Deutsche Bank branch in Kyoto.

Been using that way for my Asia trip last year (Aug 2008 - Dec 2008 Hong Kong, Dec 2008 Japan, Dec 2008 - April 2009 Vietnam). You might want to check with your bank to up your daily withdrawal limit. Was dead simple with my bank, .comdirect.

Paypal lets you easily move money between a US and a Japanese bank account but a) their exchange rates are atrocious (at least 1.5 yen below/above the going rate) and b) for the Japanese end you would need an account linked to a Japanese bank so it might be too much hassle to set that up for just 6 mo.

As for regular transfers, banks do nothing for free.

Citibank here used to let you withdraw from your US (Citibank) account via ATM with no charge but these days I would be surprised if they still allowed this for free.

I guess that it's not practical or possible for you to bring it all in cash/traveller's checks at the time of coming here and then put it into a bank account here, but for a 6 mo. stay that's what I would do.

The best way is to bring traveller's cheques (in Japanese yen) and deposit them into your Japanese bank account. If you don't have a Japanese bank account, you can still cash them at Japanese banks, but there may be a processing fee.

You can use any debit card with the PLUS mark in an international ATM. These can be found in every post office and 7-11. My bank charges me $5 per transaction on top of the not-generous exchange rate though, which seems standard.

I correspond online with some Nigerians who might be able to help you.

Hmm, in all seriousness, thanks for the tips Garvik7, these kind of simple practical things help my abstract fuzzy brain feel like maybe I can travel and not end up in some kind of Kafkaesque nightmare.

Glad this thread came up. I'm planning on taking a good chunk of cash over (enough to live off of for 1-2 years) and I'm trying to figure out the best method. Can a Japanese bank account be set up on a student's Visa?

I think Citibank is in both the US and Japan.

I use Charles Schwab Bank which charged me no ATM withdrawal fees internationally. It was awesome.

Second the Charles Schwab. They also have an Invest First Visa credit card with 2% cash back and a lot of traveler's perks if you qualify for the Visa Signature.

I found this list very helpful when I was planning my trip. I ended up just using cash I brought from home, but I wanted to know what would happen if I had to use my credit card in an emergency.

http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...n_Exchange

I have heard that ATMs at post offices and 7-11 tend to accept foreign cards but others generally do not.

Edit: spelling.

I personally bank at a small hometown credit union back in the states. I am able to take out money using my VISA ATM/Debit card at the post office with just using my PIN number like I was back in the states. I pay no fee on the Japan side but a 1% fee from my credit union back home. Your milage of course may vary on this, but I found that this is the easiest way.

IceCream Wrote:also, anyone know the easiest way of sending money from japan back home?

Sorry about the double post here.

I have found 3 ways:

Post office (they can cut you a International Money order, or do an International Money transfer)
Go Lloyds (take a bit of time to set up, but not bad)
Xe.com (if you are going to be in Japan for a while I would recommend setting up an account. All your transactions can be done on the net)

I think that Go Lloyds is the most popular, then the PO, then XE.com

I also have CitiBank account - yet when I was in Japan, even if I was withdrawing from a citibank terminal/bank I was charged about $3 per 1万円 that I withdrew. It quickly piled up...

IceCream Wrote:also, anyone know the easiest way of sending money from japan back home?

Send 1000 yen or more to the U.S., some banks will wheel barrel the piles of dollar bills to your front door.
$1=　89.875￥

I　am moving back to Japan in 3 weeks. It feels like my US dollars will spend like Mexican pesos now.

Here's something I was looking at: http://www.usps.com/money/sendingmoney/s...onally.htm

A U.S. International Postal money order costs $3.85 cents for $700 (the limit for a single money order but you can get multiple ones) and is accepted at Japanese post offices.

Here is another site where a guy tested out money exchange methods from various sources: http://traveljapanblog.com/wordpress/200...09-update/ This was from 08/14/2009 to 08/17/2009 so it is up to date.

Exchanging $1 USD to yen would get you:

Wells Fargo ATM withdrawal- 94.33
San Fran Airport cash exchange- 83.12 Yikes.
Narita Airport Cash exchange - 92.12
Narita Travelers Check exchange (note this does NOT include the purchase price of the travelers checks) - 94.12
Post Office International Postal Money Order - 94.31

I converted all rates to the 08/14/2009 exchange rate for maximum consistency uthus making the market rate base 95.27.

So IMO it looks like the international postal money order would be a really good bet for bringing over a large sum of money. It gives you nearly the best rate you can get, is easier to access (as from my understanding post offices are far easier to find in Japan than ATM machines that accept US cards), and it doesn't have the daily withdrawal limits banks impose on most ATM cards.

I'm interested in this thread too.

I am moving to Japan from January for a year of study at university. Apparently we open a bank account and a post office account (?) when we arrive. It's on a scholarship so I am not sure how the money is going to be paid, I am assuming in yen into the designated Japanese account. I also receive a payment in Australian dollars, as well as my own savings I have, but I am unsure on the best way of taking this over.

All I can say is thank goodness the AU$ has strengthened 1 AUD = 83.6 JPY. When I went in March, it was only buying 60 yen!!!!

I was also looking for a better way to wire between Japan and the US. From what I read, it seems delivery using forex is the best if you're to send a large amount of money and exchange rates are the deciding factor. Their TTS/TTB rates are very close to TTM and much better than banks, though one trading unit is usually 10,000 or 100,000 currency units. It doesn't seem to be worth the extra work if you're not moving to Japan indefinitely or getting back to your own country with all the money earned in Japan, but if banks' outrageous exchange rates are eating your money, it might be worth it.

Some Japanese blogs recommend opening CitiBank accounts in Japan if you send not small but not too large money from Japan because you can wire money to a foreign bank account online. If Citibank in your country also offers the online foreign wire transfer service and if you're going to live in Japan for an extended period of time, opening accounts in both countries may be the most convenient way.

If your credit card company is offering an online service, it may be useful to travelers and short-term residents. The online services of my credit cards are awesome and I can do pretty much everything through internet from changing my billing address to checking all bills. I set them so every bill is automatically paid from my bank account on a fixed day of each month, and I'm using the credit cards like pseudo-debit cards that can be used in a foreign country.

Whatever you do, make sure to also bring a decent amount of cash, just in case.

Thanks so much for all the replies!

So, it seems to me that the easiest way is postal money orders, and I guess I'll just go with that. Is there any reason to choose Citibank instead?

I talked to the people at Citibank and they said they have something called "Global Transfers." See the info below straight from a Citibank rep to my account:

Quote:With Citibank Global Transfers (CGTs), you can transfer funds online from your Citibank checking, savings, or money market account to other Citibank accounts in the United States or abroad. For all domestic Citibank accounts, Citibank Mexico and Citibank India accounts the fee is waived and for all other participating countries the fee is $8.00 to $10.00.

For more information on CGTs, please visit Citibank Online's "Help" section and follow these steps:

- Select: "Using Citibank Online"
- Click: "Citibank Global Transfers" from the "Transfer Money Online" menu.

If I read that right, if I open an account here I can send money back to the US for, at max, $10. That's better than the 3500 yen I paid for an intl wire. I really need to go to Citibank and get that sorted. I'll plan on opening an account in Australia as well, once I get there.

As far as getting at your bank account in the States from here... I found just using my cash card to be the easiest. Ask your bank about what they charge for this... mine only charges me the standard $1 fee for using an ATM that isn't theirs. Also be sure to let them know what you're up to - that you're going to be abroad and that you'll be withdrawing a large amount of cash... most should be able to temporarily bump your daily withdrawal limit temporarily.

All post office ATMs will take foreign cards without a hitch. I've used mine at 7-11 ATMs too... and places like Citibank will usually work. Just note that most postal ATMs have hours (boo) and may be closed on weekends/holidays, depending on the branch (boo again!). 7-11 and Citibank ones are usually 24 hours.

I use Lloyd's to send money back to the States. The fees kind of suck, but it's pretty fast and convenient... all I have to do is log on to my online banking and initiate the transfer to Lloyds. They take care of the rest.


As far as opening a bank account here, as long as you have some sort of visa and a gaijin card, you should be good to go- it varies from bank to bank, of course.... but I have both a post office account and another private bank account and all I've ever been asked for is my gaijin card or driver's license and occasionally something to prove my address (utility bill or a 外国人登録原票記載事項証明書 (Gaikokujin Toroku Gempyo Kisaijiko Shomeisho)). Some banks might require a hanko... although the post office and a few others will let foreigners by with only a signature....

Wait... is this thread a Nigerian money transfer scam? :O

Wanted to bring this thread back up as I've found the best solution possible. It's a Schwab high yield investor checking account. It's a normal checking account that simply requires you to open up a Schwab brokerage account. The separate brokerage account is completely free to open up and does NOT have to be used.

The ATM/Debit card your receive for this account:

1. Has NO currency exchange fees on international ATM withdraws.

2. No ATM fee on their end.

3. Reimburses all international ATM fees.

Money at 100% market rate with no fees. It doesn't get any better than that folks.

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/bank...g/checking