Japan - For a Year

PV111

Hello Everyone.
My son will be studying/living in Japan for a year starting in September.
He has no Credit card, only a Debit card - with Santander.


Japan seems to be predominately cash society. So he will use ATM's to withdraw cash on a regular basis.


Does anyone have direct experience and advice for the cheapest and most convenient way to arrange his finances i.e. better current account / debit card to use.


Many Thanks

eDicky

The multitude of us with direct experience overseas in general use the options recommended in the MSE article on suitable credit, debit and prepaid cards for travel, which you have no doubt studied. Access to the best credit cards and bank accounts may be limited for a student.

I have no direct experience of living in Japan, but for living in any country for a year it's worth opening a local bank account. There may be information available for foreign students in Japan for this.

The Revolut prepaid MasterCard will be useful, except that ATM withdrawals of more than £500 equivalent per calendar month are charged at 2%, but otherwise no fees. Edit: I have a year's direct experience of Revolut's usefulness and versatility.

nirajn123

No experience with Japan but lived in 3 countries for over a year and for a duration such as this I can't see how you can manage without a local bank account. It is very easy to get - other than standard bits - passport etc. you usually only need a address proof - in his case it would be a letter from his Uni/College.

HSBC advertise quite a bit about their services which allow you to open accounts internationally - checkout their website, and I am sure they are not the only international bank who do so - I used Citi once via my then employer. You can also check UK based Japanese banks if they offer such services too.

PompeyPete

Surely your son is being sposored/mentored.
Hasn't he been provide with any sort of guidance?

Chlorine7

Japan is not predominately cash. Plenty of places take cards.

He should get a credit card and should have been given information by his place of study on how to open a bank account.

ustupidwoman

i'll be interested in any replies on this subject as my son is doing the same thing and is off to japan too - and no, he hasn't received any advice from the uni re; opening a local bank account - to be honest, I hadn't even thought of that option!! I used a halifax clarity credit card when I was in the usa- would it be possible to use that and just put money into the card every month so that he can withdraw cash without a fee?

eDicky

ustupidwoman wrote: »

i'll be interested in any replies on this subject as my son is doing the same thing and is off to japan too - and no, he hasn't received any advice from the uni re; opening a local bank account - to be honest, I hadn't even thought of that option!! I used a halifax clarity credit card when I was in the usa- would it be possible to use that and just put money into the card every month so that he can withdraw cash without a fee?

Does your son already have a Clarity or any card or bank account already? Or eligible - is he over 18? Have you or he researched any of the suggestions made already?

There's no fee for withdrawing cash with Clarity. If you mean 'preloading' funds to avoid interest, it's not advisable.