Japan Money Transfer (Japan to Another Country)

First off, let be apologize for being a bit inactive here. My work and personal life don't seem to coexist easily lately. For today, I would like to post a short review of a money transfer service in Tokyo.

Our office brings in people from overseas for various lengths of time to assist in projects that requires outside expertise. One of the top questions we get from the new people is how to transfer money to their home country from Japan. Each person may have a different situation, just depends on where they are from and where they would like to send money to.

Generally, we recommend Lloyds of Tokyo for transferring money to an account outside of Japan. They have a flat fee of 2,000 YEN for each transfer and you can do it online from your Japanese Bank's online web banking.

Setting up the account takes just a few minutes if you go to their offices. Otherwise, mailing in your information will only add a few days to get everything setup. Once that is done, you can do a 'Furikomi' transfer from your home bank via an ATM, Counter Service or Online banking. They provide you with a special account and a transfer name. (Usually a 3 digit number in conjunction with your last name) When you make the transfer, if done before 3PM, the funds will show up in the remote account within 1 business day. (This will vary depending on where the money is being sent.)

As an example:

I have two personal accounts with Lloyds TSB, both connected to bank accounts in America. In this case, I have to add $10 (~1,000 yen) to the transfer since the partner bank (Wachovia) charges $10 to handle the American side of the transfer. However, each transfer I make to America is available to me 1 business day later, each time. Lloyds TSB will also mail you a postcard with the details of your transfer for record keeping purposes.

In my personal opinion, Lloyds TSB is a great service and very reliable. We do recommend this service to our workers who are from outside of Japan. If you have your own review of Lloyds or another reliable service. We would like to hear about it.

Here are some links for Lloyds TSB: (English)

Lloyds Daily Transfer Rates (updated at ~10AM each business day)

About the service

Intermediary Bank Charges (By Country)

We hope that this informational is useful to a reader.



*Disclaimer: Owners and moderators of the Tokyo Adult Guide have no business relationship or connection to Lloyds TSB other than being regular customers. This is a independent, unpaid review posting.