I have a bit of extra yen...should I open a bank account?

[hdhohomoom]

So the other bank loan topic reminds me...
I maybe withdrew too much money while here on a recent trip to Japan. I’ll be back soon (and in greater numbers too! Heh). But I don’t know what to do with my extra yen...I’m not rich or anything but I do have like 400k sitting around and if I switch it back to my host country, the banks are gonna take a good chunk of it when exchanging it back. So should I just like open a bank account here in Japan and deposit in some savings account or something?

It seems wasteful to just hold onto it and put it under my bed next to my guns til the next trip. (I’m joking, unless you mean the guns attached to my arms that normally look like biceps)

 

[TAG Manager]

So should I just like open a bank account here in Japan and deposit in some savings account or something?

Are you a resident of Japan, holding a valid residence status that enables you to open a bank account?

 

[oLUXo]

So the other bank loan topic reminds me...
I maybe withdrew too much money while here on a recent trip to Japan. I’ll be back soon (and in greater numbers too! Heh). But I don’t know what to do with my extra yen...I’m not rich or anything but I do have like 400k sitting around and if I switch it back to my host country, the banks are gonna take a good chunk of it when exchanging it back. So should I just like open a bank account here in Japan and deposit in some savings account or something?

It seems wasteful to just hold onto it and put it under my bed next to my guns til the next trip. (I’m joking, unless you mean the guns attached to my arms that normally look like biceps)

I just started to hold on to money I have extra of until my next trip. If I know I'm not going again and if it's more than $100, I exchange it. If less than $100, I donate it to charity.

 

[MikeH]

It seems wasteful to just hold onto it and put it under my bed next to my guns til the next trip.

What is wasteful about that? At least in Japan you are not losing any interest by keeping it out of the banks.

I have around 20+ different currencies at home. The rule for me is always to keep enough to be able to pay the taxi trip from airport to hotel, one night at the hotel and one girl to spend a night with me all in the cash I have at hand. Man needs safety margins in case the banks are not open, on strike or whatever when you fly in.

 

[hdhohomoom]

Are you a resident of Japan, holding a valid residence status that enables you to open a bank account?

no, but i have a friend that does....
but then again that's like giving my friend 400k so point taken!

What is wasteful about that? At least in Japan you are not losing any interest by keeping it out of the banks.

I have around 20+ different currencies at home. The rule for me is always to keep enough to be able to pay the taxi trip from airport to hotel, one night at the hotel and one girl to spend a night with me all in the cash I have at hand. Man needs safety margins in case the banks are not open, on strike or whatever when you fly in.

20+ wow and I thought I was a world traveler...
I do have a bunch of coins because you can't do ANYTHING with those lol

 

[Frenchy]

no, but i have a friend that does....
but then again that's like giving my friend 400k so point taken!



20+ wow and I thought I was a world traveler...
I do have a bunch of coins because you can't do ANYTHING with those lol

Oh don’t be so impressed. They are probably currencies of ex-Yugoslavia and USSR republics, like Moldavia or Bielorussia, the kind of place he escaped from
Can’t be exchanged for any real currency

 

[MikeH]

Can’t be exchanged for any real currency

As said the idea is not to exchange them to other currencies but to hotel, taxi and escort fees.

I have your country's currency too. Oh sorry, just remembered now you don't have your own.

 

[Frenchy]

As said the idea is not to exchange them to other currencies but to hotel, taxi and escort fees.

I have your country's currency too. Oh sorry, just remembered now you don't have your own.

Not true! We still have the CFP Franc. For Tahiti, New Caledonia etc... and cool thing is that its currently worth 1 yen , no mental computing needed when buying local bananas and coconuts!

 

[Acid Burn]

I’ll be back soon (and in greater numbers too! Heh)

I would just hold on to it especially if you know you’ll be going back soon and doing more P4P. Unless you wanna play with currencies and think the yen will get much weaker relative to your countries’ currency before you go back (enough to compensate for the exchange fees and still make a profit).

The rule for me is always to keep enough to be able to pay the taxi trip from airport to hotel, one night at the hotel and one girl to spend a night with me all in the cash I have at hand. Man needs safety margins in case the banks are not open, on strike or whatever when you fly in.

Minimally I used to have at least get-to-the-hotel money, but now I incorporate some p4p stash into that too. Nothing like a nice happy ending massage once you settle in after a long flight.

 

[MikeH]

Unless you wanna play with currencies and think the yen will get much weaker relative to your countries’ currency before you go back

One high paid foreign currency trader once told me, in the end of a long and hard drinking session, that anyone who can forecast the direction of the dollar-yen valuation at 50% rate is considered to be a guru.

Nothing like a nice happy ending massage once you settle in after a long flight.

Indeed, one must always be prepared to cover the bare essentials after landing.