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Nachosamurai
10-05-2006, 06:16 PM
I'm heading to Japan to live for a few years, and I'm wanting to know if anyone has advice on a good international bank that's easily accessible both in the USA and Japan? I appreciate any responses.
RoxFontaine
10-06-2006, 12:39 AM
With help from PLF, I discovered Shinsei Bank. Opened an account about 2 weeks ago and I LOVE IT!

www.shinseibank.com
six-eight-ten
10-06-2006, 04:11 AM
Didn't we just have a couple of bank threads going last week?
jindojim
10-06-2006, 04:22 AM
Yes. There have been a number of bank threads.

Shinsei bank seems good within Japan, but I'm not sure if it's really an international bank.
Citibank is has a number of branches that I know of in Tokyo.

Bank of America apparently has a branch around the Aoyama area in Tokyo.
Nannou
10-06-2006, 04:29 AM
Yeah Citibank has branches in other larger cities too.... Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Hakata, Sapporo.
Or maybe they are just ATM machines...

I know there's definately a branch in Kyoto, can only assume there would be in the other cities.
RoxFontaine
10-06-2006, 05:35 AM
Yes. There have been a number of bank threads.

Shinsei bank seems good within Japan, but I'm not sure if it's really an international bank.
Citibank is has a number of branches that I know of in Tokyo.

Bank of America apparently has a branch around the Aoyama area in Tokyo.

Shinsei is basically international. You can transfer money for free. You can withdraw at ATMs the world over for free. They have some pretty good investment programs too.
Nachosamurai
10-06-2006, 06:34 AM
Thanks for the replies so far... I've also seen that Citibank looks like a potentially good choice from the other threads I've looked at, but was hoping for some more options specifically regarding the issue of doing banking on both sides of the ocean, which is why I started this thread :)

Shinsei sounds pretty good too.
Plekto
10-06-2006, 02:11 PM
Citibank I know had horrendous fees, though. The ideal would be to find a Japan-based bank that has branches in the U.S., so transfers are simple and straightforward when you move over there - no middlemen for exchanges.(well, a nominal fee).

If you're talking about a business account, though, there are numerous banks that deal with only business accounts for this specific purpose.