Job Discussion Forums

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

I was just noticing that for my big move to Japan for korea that with 10,000,000 won I lose almost half of that when converted to yen!

HALF! almost.

Do you think the won can recover some ground in the next month?

Chris21 · Joined: 30 Apr 2006 Posts: 366 Location: Japan

You lose half of your money when converted? Perhaps you should convert your money at a place with a more reasonable exchange rate.

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

I was exaggerating a tad. 8million won becomes about 500,000yen. That sucks!

Is there a better/easier way of bringing money over from Seoul. The exchange rate is killing me. But my bank does not have any branches and even the korean banks with branches in tokyo say you need to have a tokyo account.

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

Ask your K-bank if you can acess your money from an ATM in Japan. The ATM rate is about the bank-to-bank rate which is the best available. If the K-bank uses either Cirrus/Maestro or VISA then you can use JPost international ATMs.

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

no it seems i have to open a japanese bank account to access my korean account even if its the same bank.

oskinny1 · Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 7

If I were you I'd open a Japan account but not transfer all the money. Let it stay in won until things cool off there.

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

Don't you think you should be asking people in Korea if they think the Korean Won will increase in the next month? Why would people in Japan know (or even really care)?

I'm not entirely sure where you get the idea that you're 'losing' almost half. You are only losing the money when you pay fees to convert it, like the fees you pay when you buy an international postal money order (on top of the exhange rate) and mail it to yourself at your new address in Japan. Other than that, it's the exchange rate. It might get a little better, but probably that's about it. You aren't 'losing' the money. That's all it's worth.

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

I understand what you're saying. The won is woth what it is worth, but considering before this economic disaster it was worth more and almost on par with the dollar you can see why I'm wary of moving large amounts of won.

What if I move it all and then in two or three months the won recovers significantly? Then I did "lose" the difference.

JL · Joined: 26 Oct 2008 Posts: 241 Location: Las Vegas, NV USA

"What if I move it all and then in two or three months the won recovers significantly? Then I did "lose" the difference."

I understand your sense of loss here, but what exactly do you want us to say?

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

I'm just griping about it, sorry.

JL · Joined: 26 Oct 2008 Posts: 241 Location: Las Vegas, NV USA

Hang in there. Your paydays will be in yen, pretty soon.

eslteacherlooking · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 32

im making the move in march, but now all the talk of depression has got me worried.

are the job prospects really that bleak?

JL · Joined: 26 Oct 2008 Posts: 241 Location: Las Vegas, NV USA

I'm currently out of Japan, and have many of these same concerns as you. But one thing to consider: do you currently have a job in Korea? (Sorry if you've mentioned this previously.) Only you can decide what is wisest for you, but if it were me, the answer to the above question would go a long way towards determining what I would do until the stormy weather passed. Of course, I'm in my forties and have two children, so I want to be cautious about these things.

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

I wouldn't advise just showing up in March and just looking for a job without a job contract already in hand, and not really knowing anyone, especially this year (keep in mind 'We Japanese are different' equals "Your experience in Korea doesn't actually count for much around here"). The ads for jobs starting in April start coming out basically at the beginning of the year and by by March a lot of jobs will have already been taken. The majority of jobs come as people leave the country- for those jobs the school will have already known how many people they'd need for at least a month and so will have filled the postions. But esecially with this year, many fewer people are leaving their jobs because of uncertainty- they'll stick with their current job if they can (also, going based on the jobs advertised, the salary seems to be dropping more, too).

If asked, my honest advice for someone in your situation would be to get another job in Korea for next year, if you possibly can, and hopefully this mess will be cleared up by the following year and things will be better (including the relative value of the won when converted into yen).