For past or current JETs: I live in the US now, I was an ALT and kept my bank account open when I left because my school wanted to pay some bills, final paycheck, etc. This isn’t often talked about and may not be what is officially supposed to happen, but many JETs leave their bank card with a supervisor who can help them in receiving a tax refund after applying for their pension back. So it might seem weird, but I left my bank card with the school. The school said they would send me the money, so I assumed I would hear from my supervisor regarding a bank transfer.
But today in the mail I received my Japanese bank card and a paper that said I still have about 140000 yen in the account. Do you know if this is possible to use in the US? I feel like I’m going to end up having to mail my bank card back to someone in Japan so they can Venmo me the money or something. My bank card is not a visa or anything like that, just the bank most popular in my prefecture. But I’m hoping it might be possible to access the money while in the US? I’m not finding a lot online. Any experience from anyone using a Japanese bank card outside of Japan?
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You’ll find more answers if you give more information about the card. Surprisingly, “it’s a Japanese bank card” doesn’t do that much for anyone trying to help you.
It depends on the bank and the card. Once upon a time, [Shinsei Bank](https://www.sbishinseibank.co.jp/info/news180606_atm_kaigai_e.html) and [Mitsui-Sumitomo](https://www.smbc.co.jp/kojin/sougou/other/international-cashcard/ending-notice/) and others offered “International Bank / ATM” cards, but they have phased these products out over the years. As these cards were discontinued due to tightening money laundering and KYC international regulations, it’s unlikely they’ll come back.
Some debit cards can be used overseas, so they’re pretty close to ATM cards, except no intermediate step of conversion to anonymous cash. However, some vendors (both in Japan and overseas) do discriminate and not accept certain cards: the first six digits of your credit/debit card tell a merchant or e-commerce shop:
* the type/brand of card
* the bank that issued it
* the country it came from
And they’ll program whitelists and blacklists into their transaction systems (many vendors don’t like to deal with overseas cards due to chargeback fraud risks)
Again, there’s an endless supply of products from various banks.
Tell your bank what you’re trying to do, and they’ll recommend a card that can do it if they offer the service.
P.S. Usually, you can [wire transfer amounts from one bank account internationally to another personal bank account for a fee](https://www.swift.com/ja/node/308347). You’ll need the banks’ SWIFT codes, the bank code, bank branch code, account number and name, and address of the banks. This should solve the problem you mentioned.
I use my JCB card for amazon japan purchases 😅
Most of this problem was already addressed above, but I wanted to mention that some banks debit cards (not cash cards) will work outside of Japan if they have partner financial institutions. I have a JCB debit card that works with only certain banks in foreign countries. I went to Korea recently and looked up which banks were partnered and was able to use my debit card no problem.
Visa CC for sure. I had no problems with Aeon CC. Unlikely with a cash card from your local bank.
If there is a “Cirrus” or “Plus” symbol on the reverse side of your card, you should be able to withdraw from an ATM in the US.
The Sony Bank visa atm works great overseas.