I met a number of friends during my vacation and we talked a lot – fun stuff, serious things… One of my friends was surprised that I didn’t have a Japanese bank account yet. He said: “I have a bank account in Japan – I just went there and opened one.” I know he never lived in Japan, and I was also quite sure opening an account is not that easy anymore, but I thought I’d go and try anyway…
With my last adventure involving banking in Japan still in my mind, I decided to take it easy. Instead of rushing all in and saying “I want” just to be told that “you can’t”, I planned to simply go there and politely ask for the necessary documents to open an account.
There was the same nice lady as the last time, who still apologised (quite unnecessarily) for her lack of speaking English, but she was trying to help me anyway. Her verdict was a very simple: “All you need is a zairyu card”, which is a registration card
for foreigners residing in Japan. Residing being the key word here – people on a tourist visa cannot apply for one. In fact, if you have a work visa (or anything else that’s not a temporary one), your zairyu card is issued right at the airport – which is very practical! Besides that, a deposit of 1 YEN, and about two weeks of patience until all cards are issued, there is nothing more you need to open a bank account in Japan.
It was worth a try, but it seems times have changed and the Japanese are now much more strict who may open a bank account in their country. I’ll have to wait a bit more then…