I’m an incoming Tokyo private school JET, and I was thinking to transfer USD-> JPY into my Wise account for startup costs sometime in the near future because the exchange rate is looking pretty good. What would be a recommended estimate in USD for how much to transfer? The current exchange rate is close to $1 = ¥139 right now. I’d prefer to hear the suggestions of people who came over in recent years
6 comments
A lot of people recommend 300000-500000 or more yen to be safe and I know people that actually needed that much but as someone that came in January to a rural placement where I live in teacher housing, I needed less than 100000 to hold me over until my first paycheck personally.
$5,000if possible. $3,000 Minimum
Congratulations on getting a Tokyo placement! Woo-hoo – you must be excited!
For start-up ALTs in Tokyo, 300,000 to 500,000 JPY is the appropriate amount.
Wise is indeed the most popular and go-to platform/application for currency exchange. I would suggest setting up auto-exchange (Wise will auto-exchange to your target currency when the currency reaches your desired rate). I took advantage of this feature frequently because the exchange rate constantly changes and so I can focus on other things.
Feel free to use this link to create your Wise account: [https://wise.com/invite/u/kevinv990](https://wise.com/invite/u/kevinv990)
You’ll probably want about 500,000 yen. So… US$3600 ish on that rate.
EDIT: Also, suggest you join one of the many Tokyo groups. 🙂 We’re on FB and discord.
All Tokyo JETs [https://www.facebook.com/groups/tokyojets](https://www.facebook.com/groups/tokyojets)
Tokyo Private School JETs [https://www.facebook.com/groups/tokyoprivateschooljets](https://www.facebook.com/groups/tokyoprivateschooljets)
Incoming [https://discord.gg/sFygVChxqy](https://discord.gg/sFygVChxqy)
TJET https://discord.gg/HwvqeqDMU7
The more the better. Bring 4K at least especially if you are furnishing a new apartment
So do most people recommend getting Wise?