Job Discussion Forums

[chongalice49]

Hi everyone

I was recently hired by ECC (still awaiting placement) and I'm currently trying to get my finances in order for the move. They recommend bringing $3,000 at least. I was wondering what the best way to bring all that money over is? I don't really want to carry $3,000 in cash with me... but I won't have a bank account accessible in Japan. Should I just use ATMs? Traveler's cheques? Any advice would be good~

Thank you all.

[seklarwia]

I would't bother with the travellers cheques:

- If you arrive after 4pm or at the weekend you won't be able to access your money should you need it immediately.

- Some banks won't cash them.

-Even the banks that will accept them probably don't see them very often and you could be waiting around for a couple of hours as the bank tries to process them.


Japan really is a pretty safe country and the most likely way that your money will go missing is if you mislay it somewhere a passerby isn't likely to notice it (people here really hand things to the police instead of pocketing it!).

But if you really cannot bring yourself to bring cash then your best bet would be to go the ATM route. You should check you banking fees for international withdrawls very carfefully before you arrive though. If your fees are pretty steep you should look into finding a more fee friendly account with another bank.

[Glenski]

Actually, I'm just the opposite -- I'd advise traveler's checks. Safer for one thing. Plus there are always places to cash them. And, you can still cash them on weekends at some hotels or department stores. In fact, if the checks are in yen, you can cash more money than if they were in dollars.

[seklarwia]

I'm guessing it depends on whether the OP is happy cashing them whilst they are still around the city before they get their bank account sorted which likely won't be until they get to their placement area.

If their placement area is in a city then travellers cheques won't be such an issue. But if they get taken to a placement where there are not so many hotels and no major department stores like where I am, they could be in for a headache. One if our people had travellers cheques in yen and they had to go around looking for a place that would cash them during banking hours and when they finally did find somewhere, they had to wait for a long time to get them cashed. Just as well they had a Japanese speaker who could taxi them around trying to find a place; it would have been really stressful for a new arrival with no Japanese to be turned away from bank after bank or turned away from a PO at 4.30 but not understanding that it wasn't because they couldn't cash them, but simply that banking hours finished at 4pm.

[chongalice49]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I will be placed either in Nagoya or Osaka, so I don't think it the small town problems will affect me. I think I just might bring a mix of all 3 (debit card, cash and traveler's cheques) just in case. It's not like I'm going to need the money all at once so I'm sure I can look around for somewhere to cash my traveler's cheques.

Any further advice is still welcomed tho

[SaganWasHere]