Hello there,
I am moving to Japan in a few weeks (mid of July). I have a job and even an agency who is supporting me with some of the administrative stuff. However, that agency is helpful, but I can also see they have their partners and of course are always pushing me to use their bank, mobile provider etc. and that is fine, but I also want to know the alternatives. I did some research on my own and would appreciate if you share your perspective with me.
1.) Bank Account
- I will be opening an account with SMBC Prestia. Which seems like a good choice, because I need a quick bank account for my salary and they seem to have great English support. However, I read that they are not that well accepted within Japan, same can be said about the credit card.
- So I assume I should open a bank account with a net bank. I was thinking about the Sony bank, because I am reading a lot of positive things. I also understood that it should be okay for foreigners to get an account without any bigger troubles.
2.) Credit Card
- I also heard, that it is really difficult to get a credit card as a foreigner. But I assume the card from the Sony Bank should be fine for most of the cases?
- My agency mentioned the GTN Epos credit card, which I could get together with a sim card (next topic). However, I feel like I don't need a credit card, because debit is perfectly fine, the credit aspect of it, is not relevant to me.
3.) SIM Card
- They recommended me with GTN Mobile, which seems like a solid choice. However, they seem to be limited on the esim options. I would actually prefer an esim card.
- Initially I wanted to go with Ahamo, but it doesn't seem that easy to get an esim approved with them.
4.) Usage in daily life
- It seems like there are so many different ways to pay in Japan, there are also all of those apps such as PayPay. What is actually the most efficient way?
- Japanese people also really seem to be into collecting points, like Rakuten points etc. , anything I should consider here? Fear of missing out.
That was much longer than expected, apologies! But thank you for the help.
by Main_Concern_8142