Sony Bank with their Platinum Takashimaya is best bank in Japan.
I have been in Japan for around 5 years and constantly in search of banks specifically due to the ATM transaction limitations etc.
The one I suggested above might cost you 33000 yen or something per year but it’s extremely worth it as it has
1. Unlimited ATM transactions from many many locations
2. 11 free wire transfers
3. 2% cashback
4. Takashimaya advantages
5. Indeed English website and super fast customer service via their chat
Additionally please keep in mind to never put your money in just one bank for financial security so the second account I would recommend is JP Bank due to extremely huge network for emergencies.
Let me know your thoughts and explorations.
6 comments
You lost me on Yuucho, have had a bank account with them for 17 years. They were at one time decent but over the last few years have gone massively down hill, they charged me a few weeks ago to do a deposit from their own atm on a Thursday at 11:00 during business hours.
They also make doing anything incredibly tedious, probably the most backwards major bank in Japan.
I think for 33,000 yearly fee, it’s not worth it for 2% cashback. Most gold/platinum class credit cards will have a smaller yearly fee, same cashback %% *and* lounge access and other perks than “getting more points in takashimaya” where everything is already fucking expensive to begin with.
edit: also no contactless payment (iD/QuikPay etc), a lot of terminals still don’t do NFCPAY properly or clerks have no idea how to use them.
Unlimited ATM transactions are not interesting. Link your bank to paypay or similar and there’s no fee to withdraw (for now). You can live in Tokyo or major city areas mostly 95% without cash these days.
Free wire transfers is OK, but that’s a sony bank thing right?
more edits:
> 海外ショッピングの利用ではポイントが付与されません。（一部の加盟店、国内の店頭または国内からインターネットサイト等を通じての利用の場合、円以外の通貨で決済された場合はポイント付与対象外）
This is a pretty insane limitation, so if I buy shit online from a place that bills in USD, i won’t be getting points? Same goes for physical shopping abroad?
Also only supports google play (for now), no apple wallet. Weird.
> The one I suggested above might cost you 33000 yen or something per year
Hmmm? No thanks. I’m happy to bank without paying additional for the privilege to do so.
I mainly use SBI Shinsei, and have a couple of other accounts as “backup”.
If this is accurate: https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance/wiki/index/handling/transfers#wiki_quick_comparison
Then I’d have thought the best benefit would be the crazily low currency conversion fee.
I’m on the Sony Bank Club S silver plan. There’s no annual fee, just a minimum balance of 3 million yen. I get 7 free ATM uses, 4 free bank transfers, and 1% cash back on Visa debit card purchases (which is almost everything these days).
Are you being serious?
1. 33.000 JPY is 33.000 more than 0, which you get pretty much at any bank here.
2. Assuming you pay something like 650JPY per wire transfer (if you have automated them), you need to do like 50 to get to 33.000 JPY.
And that’s assuming they’re all free and not just 11!
3. 2% is pretty low depending on how those can be used. If 2% is as high as it gets, that’s worse than any reasonable alternative i know.
4. Great. Now i can get 10% discounts on 20% extra markup at takashimaya.
5. Get an account with a stock broker. Wire your money there instantly for free. Withdraw without fees. (At least sbi works, others should too).