Transferring Cash to Japan

[Molokidan]

I'm a total newbie at this whole cash transferring deal. I've seen two topics, UK -> US, and JAPAN -> US, but I can't find a US -> JAPAN. So. . .here it goes.

I only have about $2500 (I'm a minor, just from working part-time) but when I go to Japan (as a foreign exchange student) in march, I want to take it there as some spending money. I'm depressed that the value of yen has depreciated so much, I feel like I'll be losing money when I go over. But with that point aside, I need to know what to do with my money.

Different sources have told me that traveler's cheques are good, but most places don't accept them. Also that ATMs are good, but you can't find them out of major cities. Obviously, I don't have that much money, so it should be fairly easy....right?

I'm also worried about all the fees that will be tagged onto my money when I move it every which way. Are there any experts around here who can point me in the right direction?

[Taro Toporific]

.. about $2500 ....
Different sources have told me that traveler's cheques are good, but most places don't accept them. Also that ATMs are good, but you can't find them out of major cities?

A wild guess that I'm pulling out of my ass is that the dollar is going below the 100yen/$1 rate by spring.

I just use cash in my money belt for anything under $20,000. However, if you are the worrying type, just use traveler's cheques which use can exchange at most any medium-to-largish bank. I've only done it once, but overseas Japanese banks, Amex and CitiBank traveler's checks seem to be easier to cash than other foreign banks.

I've cashed Amex traveler's checks at a local bank in Onsen-gun, Shikoku which is CHO-INNAKA/way out in the sticks --- not even near neolithic Japan.

Also...the Japanese Post Office ATMs let you pull cash out your Visa/Amex/Master credit cards.

[ramchop]

A wild guess that I'm pulling out of my ass is that the dollar is going below the 100yen/$1 rate by spring.

Please tell me this is due to the Yen getting stronger, and not the $US dollar getting weaker.

NZ dollar on 'rocket fuel'

[kamome]

A wild guess that I'm pulling out of my ass is that the dollar is going below the 100yen/$1 rate by spring.

You might be right. I have the worst luck with currency exchange rates. Just when I start getting paid in greenbacks, the dollar's value plummets. And when I was getting paid in yen, the dollar was expensive as hell. I remember also being a tourist in Japan when the dollar was only worth 85 yen. I've been screwed by fluctuating currency rates for almost 10 years now.

I'm a total newbie at this whole cash transferring deal.

Molokidan, I was just in the States setting up an on-demand wire transfer capability from my US bank account to my Japanese bank account. What a pain in the ass. I sat in the bank for 2.5 hours waiting for them to finish a 20-page application. Perhaps American banks may still be in the stone age with this kind of thing (or maybe my particular bank still doesn't have a streamlined process for setting up on-demand wire transfers).

Anyway, for your small sum of $2500, I definitely would not recommend a wire transfer. Traveler's cheques are good, like Taro said, and are honored at most stores, hotels, and banks (even in the sticks). I have also been able to withdraw a maximum of US$500 per day (actually, the equivalent in yen) from Citibank Japan ATMs with my US ATM check card (it has a little Visa symbol on it, which means overseas ATMs will generally recognize it). If you don't want to carry $2500 in traveler's cheques, then withdrawing it in small sums each day would be the next best option - that is, if your ATM card has the Visa symbol on it.

[GridReaper]

Please tell me this is due to the Yen getting stronger, and not the $US dollar getting weaker.

LOL

Seriously though, if Taro's wild guess is right my sorry-paid-in-US-$-ass will get even more ripped off when I go to the movie theater. Hopefully the Japanese government will jump in and keep the dollar from getting any weaker to save their exports to the US.

[ramchop]

Hopefully the Japanese government will NOT jump in and keep the dollar from getting any weaker to save their exports to the US.

[cstaylor]

A wild guess that I'm pulling out of my ass is that the dollar is going below the 100yen/$1 rate by spring.

If that happens, both Japan and China will be in trouble, but it will give American companies a chance to compete on price.

[Molokidan]

Alright, awesome. I have my $$ in a student account under Wells-Fargo, so I'll use my ATM and traveler's cheques there, that should work out great. Thanks kamome!!

[ramchop]

A wild guess that I'm pulling out of my ass is that the dollar is going below the 100yen/$1 rate by spring.

You're not alone Taro:

Dollar now expected to hit 100 yen

The dollar fell to its lowest point against the yen in more than three years this week, prompting fast, sustained and solitary dollar-buying intervention by the Finance Ministry.

An electronic board at a Tokyo money broker shows the dollar being traded near the 106 yen level.

For the time being, analysts say there seems to be little reason in sight to boost the sagging dollar immediately, so the greenback could tumble to the 100 yen level.



Taisuke Tanaka, chief macro strategist at Credit Suisse First Boston Securities (Japan) Ltd., agrees.

Tanaka is forecasting that the yen's current uptrend will peak around midyear

End of April would suit me, it can do what it likes after that.