Japanese banks

[SteveG]

Hello everyone,
I have a quick question with regards to dealing with banks in Japan. How much of a hastle would it be to deposit a check from a company in the USA at a Japanese bank?

I'm planning on going to Japan to attend university and get my PhD in a few years. While I'm studying, my primary method of financial support is going to be royalty checks from my patents, which thankfully should be enough to cover all of my tuition and living expenses. However, I am a little concerned that I may have troubledepositing them as they will be written entirely in English, and I have heard so stories that checks in general are not in widespread use in Japan.

If anyone can provide me with some information on this issue I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Steve

[annie]

Your best bet is to have the money deposited into your foreign bank account and then withdraw the money in Japan with an ATM card. (you might want to ask your bank to up the maximum withdrawal amount)

Next option, deposit the money into your foreign bank account and then have it transferred to Japan.

Trying to cash a check here should be your absolute last resort. Japan doesn't use checks. And the foreign currency, foreign bank is just as big of a problem. I"ve never tried to deposit a check in Japan, but I've heard horror stories of it taking months and huge fees.

[Bueller_007]

Your best bet is to have the money deposited into your foreign bank account and then withdraw the money in Japan with an ATM card. (you might want to ask your bank to up the maximum withdrawal amount)

Next option, deposit the money into your foreign bank account and then have it transferred to Japan.

Trying to cash a check here should be your absolute last resort. Japan doesn't use checks. And the foreign currency, foreign bank is just as big of a problem. I"ve never tried to deposit a check in Japan, but I've heard horror stories of it taking months and huge fees.

I did it once, to cash a Christmas parent from my grandmother.

I then considered putting anthrax in her thank-you card.

Avoid foreign checks at all costs. I couldn't get the money cash-in-hand (it had to be deposited into my account), and it took a couple of days, as I recall. They took something like 50% as a service charge.

The problem was that it was made out to Mizuho, and I use UFJ, so both banks need to take their cut, and take some time to get the check pushed through. If you absolutely *must* use a check, make sure it's a cashier's check made out to your own bank. It will still be painful and expensive, but not quite that bad.

[SteveG]

Thank you both for the replies.

I'll have to see if I can talk the companies I have license agreements with to direct deposit the royalty payments into my US bank account so I won't have to deal with checks.Losing 50% in service charges by trying to deposit one in Japan would certainly be painful.

You mentioned that withdrawing money from a US account at a Japanese ATM would be prefferable to having the money wired to an account in Japan. I'm curious as to what the service charges are like at the ATMs in Japan when you withdraw money from an account at a foreign bank and how this compares to the charges for wiring in money from foreign accounts. I would think that wiring several thousand dollars at once might have a lower service charge than withdrawing the same ammount in smaller increments if there are ATM charges involved.

Thanks again,
Steve

[atomsk]

i deposited a cheque at citibank in japan. it took a month to clear. fees were very cheap. but maybe thats because the cheque was from an us citibank.

[JonB]

the whole concept is a bit alien here! Bank accounts don't have cheque books - for example this week I have to pay a large (seriously large) deposit on some land and they expect me to go to the bank and get cash!! Though in the end they will accpet a bankers draft equivalent - so I have tomorrow's lunch hour and some camped in Citibank to talk them into giving me one...

When I first came out here I was paid in the UK and what I did (as a result of advice from someone in a similar situation) was change my account in the UK to Citibank. There you can get a Japanese yen savings account and a cash card. The transfers are at a very good exchange rate and no charge for using the ATM. I don't know if the US allow savings accounts in foreign currencies like that? (wouldn't be surprised if they didn't!!)

JonB

[atomsk]

at the japanese citibank you get a yen savings account and a multi money savings account that can hold different foreign currencies.

[annie]

For ATM transactions the post office here (one of the few places that seems to work with foreign cards well) doesn't charge a fee. And my credit union at home doesn't charge a fee for the first five transactions a month. The currency conversion fee was 1% last time I checked (a few years ago).

But, I'd forgotten about citibank (they have too high of a minimum account limit for me). Good option if you're in Tokyo (or somewhere else where there is a citibank)

[dmr214]

Use Citibank and they can probably work out how to do this for you, however like someone said up top. Do yourself a favor and deposit it in your home country account and take out the money with an ATM card. Don't try to navigate the Japanese bank system, it's a nightmare.

[untmdsprt]

I've got a question concerning banking. Has anyone had problems transferring money to/from the US? My cousin claims that no amount of money can be transferred to the US from Japan. I think he's full of it. I've looked into setting up a Paypal account for my US account, and soon to be Japanese account, and just transfer money every two months to the US account. At most I will send $500.

The only bill I have is my student loan. They require US funds though, and won't accept Paypal.

[annie]

I've got a question concerning banking. Has anyone had problems transferring money to/from the US? My cousin claims that no amount of money can be transferred to the US from Japan. I think he's full of it. I've looked into setting up a Paypal account for my US account, and soon to be Japanese account, and just transfer money every two months to the US account. At most I will send $500.

The only bill I have is my student loan. They require US funds though, and won't accept Paypal.

no problem transferring money... use either the post office or GoLloyds
but there's a significant fee to transfer money.... it's better to transfer more money less often. (i usually wait till i have about $5000)