Money, Post, and other Services


Perhaps the scariest thing prior to leaving and upon first arriving in Japan is trying to figure out the financial and postal situations. As long as you have an American bank account and understand the basic Japanese vocabulary though, you shouldn't have any cause for anxiety.


The Bank
One surprising thing about Japan is that cash is used for everything. Most people have at least 10,000yen (around $100) on their persons at all times, and usually carry much more. Travelers cheques, regular cheques, and credit cards in the meanwhile are rarely accepted save for at the largest department stores, making travel a bit difficult.
Luckily, to get your money all you really need is a US bank account that has been arranged to work internationally prior to departure, and a post office. The Japanese post offices almost all have special international ATM's denoted by a 3-leaf neon green clover sign outside the building. Some of them even have English instructions though it's easy to figure out either way. To make a transaction, simply insert your card, press "withdraw", press "foreign withdrawal", enter your password, enter your amount, and take a nap until it spits out the cash. Generally you will be charged 200 or more yen for the privilege of using these machines, though sometimes the US account can set things up in such a way that these fees do not apply.

For those people living in Japan for more than a few months, it is a wise idea to create a local bank account. Many bills including housing, electricity, and water can be extracted directly saving you quite a bit of time.

Creating a bank account is a simple procedure although if you are not proficient in Japanese, it would be advisable to bring a native speaker with you. Students in the BGSU-HJU exchange will receive help in this regard from the Kokusai Center.
Once all the paperwork is completed, you will be given or sent a card and pass book with which you can make deposits and withdrawals at any branch or ATM of the bank. I preferred using the pass book for my transactions since the machine could print my account history from the last visit I had made right into its pages. Be careful of making frequent transactions by the way as there are many hidden fees. Most banks charge extra for taking out money on the weekend or after 5:00.



Paying Bills
If you have a local bank account, then most companies can automatically extract your charges. Each withdrawal will be marked in your pass book upon your next use of an ATM, and you will be sent a receipt as well.
If you don't have an account or don't grant its access to billers, the charges will be sent to your home. Generally, you can pay these fees at most any convenience store.
As a side note, save your receipts for at least six months. That way, if something was to happen and the paperwork didn't go through or the money was spirited away by a crooked clerk, you have at least some proof that will help save you from paying the bill twice.



The Post Office and other Parcel Places
Cranky postal workers seem to be a fact of life world round, although at least in Japan they're usually quite polite. They speak English only infrequently however so it might be wise to bring a friend if you have trouble with the language.
Post offices in Japan are usually only open until 3:00 PM in the branch offices, and 7:00 for the main depots. There are a few in urban areas however that keep their front doors open later so that people can use the Postal Savings ATM.

Letters To send a letter, you need to buy stamps from the post office. Then after filling out the address and affixing said stamp, you can drop it in one of the large red mailboxes around the city. If you don't want to bother with stamps though, you can always mail your letters straight from the post office.
Shipping Overseas To send a package to another nation, there are three basic options.
The first is airmail which, although it costs a great deal, can handle any size of package and deliver it anywhere in the world within 3 to 5 days.
The second is called salubin, a system which also goes by air and costs much less, but takes 1 to 2 weeks. There is also a limit to the size of package that can be sent. If you don't have a box that is small enough, you can buy a new one from the post office.
Finally, you can also send your packages by ship which takes over a month to deliver but costs the least. The same size limit as salubin applies here.

Package insurance is usually available, though not at all locations. Also of note, the post office can send a van to your house to pick up parcels although other than talking to the people in the office I'm not sure how you can go about setting this up.

Takubin's adorable logo When you receive a package, it isn't always delivered by the Post office. There are a multitude of other services like Takyuubin with its adorable kitten logo as well. I would assume that you could use these companies to ship your parcels although I am not sure how you might go about it. I do know that hotels and some of the ritzier apartment complexes can send things via fed-ex, but beyond that I have never had any experience with mailing things beyond the post.

Packages are delivered to your door and in person: the companies will never leave anything on the doorstep. Workers are always polite and will hold the package no matter how big and heavy it is while you sign the form saying that you received it. Sometimes, they will even carry it up the stairs for you.
If you aren't home when the delivery people come, they will leave you a note with a phone number in your mailbox. These notes usually come with very detailed instructions in Japanese about how to set up another delivery time through a voice-menu system. Other times, the number simply connects you to a human being who will set up the time personally.