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[allyismycopilot]

I don't know if this is relevant to anyone but I figured someone may find this useful.

I'm operating an export business out of Japan so I needed a good way to handle money between my US and Japanese accounts. I have a US Paypal account but it's impossible to add a Japanese Bank Account to it.

So I opened a Japanese Paypal Account (Just sign up as a new member and choose Japan as the country... don't worry there is English) and added my US bank account to it.

Now I can transfer funds back and forth (500Yen for anything less than 50k yen) with no problems.

However if you're US bank is already associated with another Paypal Account (i.e. you have Paypal already) you will have to close your US Paypal account to add your US Bank to the Japanese Account.

When you add your Japanese Bank under 'Profiles' make sure you put your name EXACTLY how it is spelled in Katakana (furigana) on your bank passbook. The only other information you will need is your Bank Name, Branch Name, Account Number, Bank Code, and Branch Code. You can print out the page and just bring it to the bank if you have trouble and they can fill in the neccessary info. Just make sure to have them write out the bank name and branch name in romanji or hiragana because you will have to have it in Kanji to add the bank correctly.

If you have trouble with this you can simply (you have to have Global IME or Japanese language support, or whatever the hell it is called installed on Windows... if you can type Japanese you have it) simply switch the input to Japanese and make sure 'hiragana' is selected then just type in the hiragana of your bank and press the space bar. There will be a list of Kanji and pick the ones that match your passbook.

One other issue is there is a limit of 500 a month for withdrawl's and 750 for sending unless you add a credit card to verify your account. I'm not sure if it will let you add a card already associated with another paypal (like your US) so that part might have to wait until the US one is canceled. Also when you add it it wants a billing address and you can't enter a US billing address. I just typed my US billing address in as best I could. I had to pick a prefecture and it still said Japan as the country but it accepted the card and lifted the limit.

I guess the last bit of information I have is they say it takes 5-7 days for a deposit to go into your Japanese Account from Paypal but it only takes 2 days for me and I have a tiny ass local bank.

If you do decide to make use of this information and get it all set up send a test depost to your Japanese account (I did 2000yen) and see if it goes through. If it does you're ready to roll. If it doesn't and it bounces back your Japanese bank wasn't added properly and you will have to check it out and maybe get a Japanese friend to help out.

Anywho that's all I have. I hope someone finds this useful.

[JimDunlop2]

Thankd for that, ally. It's not IMMEDIATELY useful to me, but it very well may be in the future. Paypal has come a long ways since its original roots and providing only U.S. and then Canadian services...

I am assuming then, that by setting up a Paypal (Japan) account, you can associate both foreign bank accounts AND foreign credit cards?

Eg. Let's say I had: 1) a Canadian bank account, 2) a Japanese bank account, 3) a Canadian credit card and 4) a Japanese credit card... Could I associate ALL of those with my Paypal Japan account?

If the answer is YES, then why wouldn't I be able to do the inverse? (I.e. add a Japanese bank account/credit card to an existing American or Canadian Paypal account)?

Also, the second question is, if you can associate BOTH a Canadian AND Japanese bank account with Paypal, would it be cheaper to send money home using Paypal versus Lloyds?

I don't know if you can answer any of those questions, but if you can, that would certainly add to my understanding of the way it all works.

Cheers,

JD

[womblingfree]

[dbooster]

Anyone have any more info on this? I have most of my debts paid off by now, but I will still have student loans when I go over, so I am very interested in this as it would make things a little easier.

[womblingfree]

[allyismycopilot]

Sorry for the delay in response but I've been really busy. In response to Jim I'm not exactly sure about the ins and outs of the situation with the Canadian account thrown into the mix. However I can tell you that you can not add a Japanese bank or credit card to a US based Paypal account. That is why I had to open the Japanese Paypal account. With the Japanese account I am able to add my Japanese bank and credit card AND my US bank account and credit card. I would assume that you would be able to do the same thing with a Canadian bank acccount/credit card. So my answer to your question is probably yes you can add both canadian bank/credit and Japanese bank/credit to a Japanese Paypal account. As for doing the inverse I have no idea why Paypal will not set it up to allow US (and Canadian I am assuming) Paypal Accounts to add Japanese Bank Accounts or Credit Cards. It's alot of hoops to jump through but it is worth it in the end imho.

In regards to womblingfree's question about his their Japanese friend's Paypal Account. When you add a Japanese Bank it asks for the following information:

- First/Last name (furigana... i.e. in katakana)
- Bank Name
- Branch Location
- Account Type (Savings or Checking)
- Bank Code (4 digits)
- Branch Code (3 digits)
- Account Number

This is all on an online form you have to fill out in the Profile section on your Paypal Japan Account. From what I understand if you input your name in Kanji funds will not go through. You have to have it in Katakana and it has to match what you have on your passbook. The Bank Name and Branch Location can be in Kanji. The Branch Code is usually found on your passbook but most of the time the Bank Code is not. The best bet would be for your friend to print this form out from the website and take it to the bank. That's what I did just to make sure I had everything write and I didn't know my Bank Code as it wasn't on my passbook.

Another heads up for anyone who ends up setting one up. A few people have told me that haven't been able to upload funds from their Japanese Bank to their Japanese Paypal account they can only withdrawl funds from the Paypal account to the bank. I think this may have something to do with either the verfication steps that you will eventually have to take wherein Paypal will limit your access to sending/receiving money until you fax them copies of your alien card, registration cerfticiate (300YEN at your city office), and certificate of seal (hanko) registration (also obtained at your city office). After the verification you may be able to pull money from your Japanese Bank. The other possibliity is the fact that I upgraded to a Business Account. Not exactly sure which one it is.

Like I said this might not be pertinent to most but I know there have been a few threads in regards to Paypal in Japan and I figured I would share my experiences.

[womblingfree]

[Gordon]

[womblingfree]

[allyismycopilot]

If she input her name in Kanji then that is the problem. I had a Japanese friend who did the exact same thing and after he switched to Katakana all was well. The bank should have her name on record in furigana so it should work.