Opening a bank account in Japan

There are good and bad news with respect to open a bank account in Japan. The good news: it is not that difficult. The bad news: a new regulation prohibits the banks to open a bank account to foreigners which have been living for less than 6 months in Japan.

The only exception to this rule is the Japan Post Bank. Any Post Office will open you a bank account, although you can only make deposits and withdrawals, no payments or bank transfer, during these first 6 months.

After that period, simply go to any local branch and present your ALIEN Registration Card and passport. You will need to indicate the max amount of money the account will hold. This number isn’t important, it does not involve any taxes, the maintenance fee is not affected… Hence, go for any number you fancy.

They usually issue a debt card along with the Passbook of the account. You can always upgrade to a credit card (=paying more). You can use either the debt card or the passbook to get money from the ATM (if it belongs to the same bank). Otherwise, only debt cards can be used. And remember… outside business hours, any ATM charges for its usage (even if it belongs to the same bank).

I do recommend the following banks

Mitsui Sumitomo (green as brand color)
UFJ Tokyo Mitsubishi (red as brand color)

There are more banks, but I can tell you, these are the most visible ones....

If you REALLY need an english speaking bank, then CITYBANK is your place (probably/maybe).

Ahh... some branches (and be carefull, I said branches, no banks), require a personal stamp to open the account. If this is the case, excuse yourself and leave. Look for another branch. It happened to me-> one office branch requested me a stamp, I went to another and they didn't...

ps. if you are short of cash, go to a convenience store (they open 24/7). They usually have their own ATM machines....
ps.2. If you have an international VISA or credit card, you can get money from the ATM located at the post offices....