Has anyone done his recently? I read multiple posts saying Japanese government is checking on this and if you keep it open you won’t get the pension refund after returning to your country. Is this true?
I hope to keep it open for a few extra months to pay or credit cards etc.
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Whether you can keep your account open or not depends on your bank. Talk to them.
My ward’s pension office even gave me the option of keeping my Japanese account open and having my pension refund transferred into there. When I was outside Japan I kept two accounts open and continued to use them. It’s not a big deal.
anecdotal, but a colleague left the country for 10 years or something and his (local, smaller) bank account was still open with some yennies still in there.
They ain’t gonna cancel your bank account immediately or whatever, they just keep charging you the managing fee every year even you don’t have a penny in your balance, so as long as you don’t tell them you will never use your bank account again, they are fine with it, I guess.
But situations can be differ, Go to your local bank and ask them about this.
You need to talk to your bank about it. While some people may have gotten away with it, if a bank who doesn’t like it catches wind that you’ve left the country (bounced back mail, or failure to provide a residence card copy upon request), they can freeze your account and you’d have to return to Japan to get your money. They won’t wire it abroad.
Except Mizuho, they don’t give a shit about whether you left or not, unless you tell them. I have left Yuucho and UFJ wide open, for 2.5years, nothing happened. Mizuho, for them they suspended withdrawal function of my account, after my residence card expired. Funny thing is tho, only withdrawal function so I could send money, I didn’t know it was suspended. Mf. I had to go back to Mizuho and let them know I got a new card.
1. You don’t have to declare to the Kuyakusho that you are moving from Japan to country X. Once you say that you not gonna come back at the Boarder control at Haneda or Narita, they do it for you.
How did I know this? After I came back to Japan after military service, I got a job after graduating from a Japanese uni, and I tried to get my pension card. They showed me that I left the country at X date, exactly when I took the flight. They sort out your pension shit your health insurance shit anyway. They have 2 years of statue of limitations anyway, so you don’t need to pay either even if you received a letter. They will expire.
2. You don’t have to declare to the bank that you are going back home. Just keep it open.
I know someone who opened his account with the main branch of MUFG in Marunouchi in 2015 left im 2016 and still uses it, when he comes to Japan. So far no issues. While he also had an account with Shinsei and they asked for his residence card. Not provided, they still did not block yet, but have sent several letter (so you should mane sure to change the address to one you can receive letters at).
There are signs about it at every bank and in city hall in my place
It’s a crime not to
May be a silly question but if you close your bank account, how do you pay for the inhabitant tax the following year? (After you’re gone)
As you have received some comments already about the bank accounts themselves, I’ll just add that you can try to contact the credit cards you need to pay off and do a bank transfer to pay off the balance manually. For Rakuten, I think as long as all charges are reflected in e-navi, you can make a bank transfer and then cancel the card immediately after. For other services that you may be using, such as direct withdrawals for utilities, you can try to contact them and ask to make the last payment in cash. For example, Tokyo Water lets you settle your balance in cash when they come to shut off the water.