So in the previous post, I talked through different types of bank accounts in Japan.

Now, which one should you go with?

If you are planning to get an investment in the future or want a name-value to your bank account, then go with the Mega Banks.

If you just need an account to operate (get payments, make payments), then go with either the online banks or Yucho bank as the fees are much cheaper.

No harm in having multiple bank accounts so some people will have one Mega Bank account for investment / reputation and an online bank for their usual use to save money on fees.

However, as I have mentioned in my previous post, Not all bank account accepts payment from abroad. So if you have plans to do business internationally, there are only a handful of options for you… Let me go through them…

Mega Banks: Mizuho, Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFJ), Mistuisumitomo (SMBC) bank etc
They all usually offer international service so if you are willing to pay the high fees, then they are your safe bets.

Online Banks: 
These are the tricky ones. Normal information homepage is usually for Japanese business partners so it is very hard to find information on international service. So I have sent an email to the customer service to check one by one… (please note, this data is as of the start of 2020, so please check for the latest information).

• Rakuten: Offer international service
• GMO Aozora: No international service
• Japan Net: No international service
• Sumishin SBI: Offer international service

For Sumishin SBI, you would need to create a bank account in a foreign currency that you wish to receive payments in. But its really easy to set up and it takes a few seconds. Once you create your JPY bank account, log in, go to currency exchange and but one unit of the currency you wish to receive the payment in (e.g. exchange $1). Then you can start to receive the payment in that currency.

Note that although Rakuten and Sumishin SBI offers international service, they do not accept every single currency in the World. So please check the details un each bank.

FYI, for Sumishin SBI, they accept JPY, USD, EURO (EUR), STERING POUND (GBP), AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (AUD), NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (NZD), CANADIAN DOLLAR (CAD), SWISS FRANC (CHF), HONG KONG DOLLAR (HKD) or SOUTH AFRICA RAND (ZAR).

Oh, and Yucho Bank accepted international payments up until March 2020 but has stopped. So they will not be an option for you either.

So for online banks, my recommendations are either Rakuten Bank or Sumishin SBI Bank.

In the next post, I will talk about some advice that I can give on the screening process that the banks will go through to determine if you can open the bank account in Japan