Ok.. so most japanophiles know that the post offices in Japan also serve as a local savings bank.
Wow.. they do everything, including deliveries on Saturdays and Sundays!
Us furreign visitors can use our alien bank cards at their ATM’s and pull funds over into yen, and only pay a small (yes, get used to it) $4-5 fee. Savings account depositors can also transfer money by ATM or internet, to each other fee of charge - a method that is popular for paying sellers when you go nuts on Yahoo.co.jp online auctions.
As a foreign visitor, You CANNOT set up a savings account, not without the residency card, as well as your passport.
That means that when you want to transfer funds to pay off that Yahoo auction, it will run you a Y525 fee, and a personal session with a confused JP clerk, far more embarrassed about their lack of English, than you can possibly be about your lack of Japanese.
OUCH!
To get even with them, I am sending all in-japan correspondance by Kuroneko letter at 80Y ea. - Black Cat Courrier/ Transport (kuro neko = Black Cat) doesn’t freak out when your letter is a bit over the strict edo era weight limits that JP imposes. Every 5th shop in the area serves as a kuroneko dispatch, and the local Kombini (Family Mart) is open late. They will ask you whats in the letter.. you are not supposed to tap 500 +100 Y coins into a card to send to people, to pay off your Yahoo auctions. So just say “CARDO” and shrug.
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