RetireJapan

Hi 10-7,

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

As for me, I ended up just transferring the money from the US straight into my Mitsubishi bank account. I know that maybe Sony/Transferwise would have made it cheaper, but for now, I didn't want to deal with creating new accounts, etc.

For those interested...

I first opened a dollar account at Mitsubishi, then transferred money (about $ 100,000) from the US into this dollar account (which was available in 1-2 days).The banking charge on the US side was $45 total ($20 for the wire fee and then on top of that, $25 for the international wire fee).

Mitsubishi's TTB rate (at the time... this is several months ago -- ) was 109.47. (at the same time, on the Live Forex website, it was 109.76). I just went ahead and transferred the money from the Mitsubishi dollar account to the yen account. Basically (I believe) it was like I was paying Mitsubishi 24,025yen...

For the amount I transferred, how quick it and convenient it was (and the stress saved), 24,025yen seems to me like a price worth paying. Now, if I were doing transfers frequently, I would look elsewhere, but for now (since I did this type of transfer (US bank --> straight to my Japanese bank) just twice), I feel good about it.

I know this thread is a little old but I wanted to follow-up to see if I understood the logistics correctly for using a Wise account to send money from the US to Japan (even though the original poster didn't go this route).

1) Open a Wise account in Japan (i.e. using Japan issued ID such as MyNumber, driver's license or resident card). This Japan Wise account will get a US Bank routing number you can use.

2) From your US bank/investment account do a simple ACH transfer using the Wise bank routing number. Not an international transfer.

3) Money (in USD) arrives in Wise account

4) Convert USD in Wise account to JPY

5) Transfer JPY from Wise account to your Japanese bank account (simple furikomi process). Not an international transfer here either.

Possible fees incurred would be:
a) When doing the ACH transfer in step 2
b) When converting the USD to JPY in step 4
c) When doing furikomi in step 5

Did I get those details correct? I assume the fees incurred would be less than those incurred if you did a straight-forward international wire from your US bank account to your Japanese bank account, right? Not to mention probably less hassle from your Japanese bank.

Thanks!

For my purposes, Wise would have been significantly more expensive.
Transferring USD direct from my US bank to Sony Bank (and then exchanging with Sony) was the simplest and lowest cost option.
Coffeespoon did the same with Mitsubishi.
Wise is an unnecessary middleman that adds cost, complexity, and risk...in my opinion.

When you say transfer directly do you mean an international wire? Makes sense that eliminating a middleman would result in lower cost. One less party that has to make something on the transaction. Thanks for reply!

Wise works really well if you want to send small amounts of money to different people (ie it is very easy to set up new recipients, etc.).

Other options get better as the amounts get larger. Best to compare directly for what you want to do.

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:52 am Wise works really well if you want to send small amounts of money to different people (ie it is very easy to set up new recipients, etc.).

Other options get better as the amounts get larger. Best to compare directly for what you want to do.

When sending USD to a Japanese bank using Wise would it be more beneficial too allow Wise to convert the USD to Yen or have them deposit the USD into a USD sub account in Japan?

Gulliver wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:18 am When sending USD to a Japanese bank using Wise would it be more beneficial too allow Wise to convert the USD to Yen or have them deposit the USD into a USD sub account in Japan?

Depends on the timing (do you want to convert immediately or later?), the rate your bank gives you vs. the Wise rate, and how much time/headspace you want to devote to this

Rather than using a transfer/currency exchange service for this, would it be cheaper to just send the money to a Sony Account (keeping it in the foreign currency), and then "buy" yen with it using the Sony account?

onionchutney wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 2:16 am Rather than using a transfer/currency exchange service for this, would it be cheaper to just send the money to a Sony Account (keeping it in the foreign currency), and then "buy" yen with it using the Sony account?

My bank charges around $100 to wire internationally. So for most transfers under $20,000 it’s cheaper to do wise.

I’ve looked into changing my bank but all of the major cheap ones require require proof of a US address and application in person, which I can’t do.

I'm a US citizen residing in the US with plans to retire to Japan with my Japanese wife in 2-3 years. We intend to sell our house here and use the proceeds to build a home on property she recently inherited in Tokyo. She has heard stories from Japanese friends who have encountered roadblocks when trying to transfer funds from the US to Japan in amounts as little as $3,000, yet I see no mention in this forum of restrictions on the amount of US dollars that can be wired to a Japanese bank account. Are their different rules for Japanese versus US citizens?