wiring money to Japan from the US

[coffeespoon]

Thank you, CaptainSpoke! I took a look at the reddit site you suggested.
Have a good night.

[coffeespoon]

I would avoid breaking the transfer into smaller amounts, as that can seem like you are trying to avoid attention from the tax authorities, and thus get more attention

You can switch from US dollars to yen quite easily within your Wise account. You can also send the money to a virtual US bank account within Wise, thus avoiding the need for an international transfer.

*****
Hi Ben, so I am interested in pursuing the method you suggested (Wise account).... I was wondering when you say Wise account, if you mean that I should get the multi currency account (I don't have one), or if I should just transfer money through them (I have done this before, but from Japan to the US). (When you say virtual US bank account, is this when you get the multi currency account?). Also, just to double check, but wasn't there a 1 million yen limit to the transfers (and does this limit apply to the multi currency account?). Sorry so many questions!

[RetireJapan]

Yes, the multi currency account. Not sure about limits with that, other than you are not allowed to park money there for more than a couple of weeks.

[coffeespoon]

Thanks for your reply!

[10-7]

I am also planning on transferring funds from the US to Japan, but seems Wise might not be the best deal.
Wise fees total $213.02 for $40k to Japan.
I am planning to have USD transferred to my Sony USD account and then converting with Sony.
The exchange rate appears to be competitive with Wise, but the fees are less.
Fees will be $25 by my US bank and .04 to .15 yen/$ (depending on account tier based on USD account balance)...so 1,600 - 6,000 yen for $40k.
I just opened my Sony account so I can't provide a recommendation yet, but thought I'd share those numbers for what they're worth...

[coffeespoon]

10-7, thanks for your response! I do remember seeing something about Sony Bank when I was researching for ways to transfer money, but had forgotte about it. Thanks for the reminder. Let me know how it goes for you!

[10-7]

Following up on my experience using Sony Bank to receive a USD transfer...
I wired USD from my US account to Sony Bank and it arrived in less than 24 hours.
Sony sent me an email asking me to login and answer a few questions about the transfer.
Another email arrived the following day asking for documents showing the source of the funds.
The next day the funds were in my account.
I waited for the USD/JPY to be about where I wanted, logged into my account and purchased JPY in real time when I was happy with the rate.
The total cost to me was .15 yen per dollar. Significantly cheaper than any other service I'm aware of at the present.
I also liked that I could let the money sit as USD until I liked the USD/JPY rate and then execute in real time.
You can get lower costs (as low as .04 yen per dollar) if you maintain a USD balance in your account...note though it's not an insured account if that's important to you.
By comparison, Wise would have cost me about .52 yen per dollar with all costs considered.
If helpful to others, I've been tracking the various ways I've remitted USD into Japan for about a year and below is what I've averaged including all applicable fees, rebates, rate markups (expressed in yen per dollar). The two cheapest methods, in my experience, have been the USD transfer to Sony Bank and using my US issued charge card. Wise would have taken 3rd place, but I've never actually used them.
US bank to Sony Bank in USD then converting to JPY ¥0.15
US issued charge card ¥0.39
US debit card ¥1.55
US bank to Japanese Bank in JPY ¥2.54

[captainspoke]

Thanks for checking back in with your experience.

It’s not urgent, but I’ve been considering an account at Sony—kind of as a backup since Shinsei is getting merged. (And not only for transfers, some other services may change, too.)

[10-7]

I closed my Shinsei account when I opened the Sony account.
So far so good. The English language site is not as robust as the Japanese site but sufficient for my purposes thus far.
And I should clarify my statement about the Sony account not being insured...
Any foreign currency balance you hold with Sony Bank is not insured. Your JPY savings account is insured.

[beanhead]

Thanks for checking back in with your experience.

It’s not urgent, but I’ve been considering an account at Sony—kind of as a backup since Shinsei is getting merged. (And not only for transfers, some other services may change, too.)

I like Sony Bank. Generally good experience, easy to use website and app.
There is no real English support available, so as long as you don't expect that, it works well.