Final bill payments after the program ends

6 comments

1. If you have internet (whether its a bundle or not), cancel your internet FIRST before canceling your phone. It will keep you sane.

2. You have to close your bank account before you leave Japan. Banks have been cracking down on that recently. You’ll want to talk to your providers to see if you can pay early or leave money with someone at your school/boe to pay the final bills for you

3. Water, electricity and gas can be paid on the day. Follow your providers’ instructions on scheduling a meter checker to show up and tally up your last bill.
   Phone and internet should be the same procedure. Probably need to give them a notification ahead of time.

4. Bank accounts in Japan don’t have fees, so even if you leave it open there’s no real penalty. They’ll just freeze the account once your residence card expires or they get returned mail from your address. People have done this, come back years later, and reactivated their accounts after proving their new residency status.

5. If you notify all of them with your departure date you should be able to get invoices and pay a lot of things in advance with cash. For example my car insurance could do it this way.

   Electricity and water people can show up on your moving day and collect your last payment.

   Docomo said no cancellation fees since I’m “leaving the country” rather than “cancelling”. Just FYI for people. They just need to see my residence card and flight itinerary. I might get a pocket Wifi because I’ll have no internet for a week or two before I leave.

   I will be closing my bank account some time in the last couple of days before my flight. Its a rural bank that I won’t be using again.

6. I’ve been told that legally I can’t have any accounts left open when I leave Japan. I’ve been asked to leave money to cover things and then any money left over will be sent to me with my tax refunds by my tax representative.