Merry Christmas! How will you spend your ￥12000?

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Congratulations for the lucky ones of you out there who will recieve payments as part of the Japanese government’s 2 trillion yen economic stimulus package 定額給付金　teigaku kyuufukin. Under the plan, ￥12000 payments will be distributed to households across Japan.

So how will it all work? The Mainichi Shinbun explains:

[...]cash will be doled out to households by transferring the money to individual accounts at financial institutions after the head of each household files an application by postal mail to local governments.

The draft says it is desirable to start supplying the cash to households before the end of fiscal 2008, but the actual starting date will be decided by each municipal government. The deadline for applications is still being debated and will be either within three months or six months.

While the government and the ruling coalition had earlier pledged to finish distributing the cash to all households before the end of this fiscal year, it has emerged that it will be unfeasible.

Under the draft plan, each municipal government will send application forms to the heads of households, who will be expected to return them with their bank account details. Municipal governments will confirm the identity of recipients by requiring them to send copies of their bankbooks and driver’s licenses together with their application. The officials may also transfer the cash to accounts already on record for use in withdrawing utility fees.

If an individual cannot file an application through postal mail, the head of a household can visit the municipal government office and go through procedures to have the cash transferred to their account. Supplying the money through municipal government offices is also an option, but for safety reasons, it will be limited to cases where bank transfers are difficult.

The amount of cash to be doled out will be 12,000 yen per person, and additional 8,000 yen will be paid to those aged over 65 or under 18. The base date for determining a person’s age will be either Jan. 1 or Feb. 1 next year.

The cash will be provided by municipal governments where recipients have their residency registered as of the base date. As for foreigners, the cash allowance will be distributed to permanent foreign residents and the foreign spouses of Japanese nationals.

So all you permanent residents and spouses out there, enjoy your ￥12000. You might want to look into putting your money in a higher interest yen time deposit (see my previous article on the subject) or picking up some personal finance books to increase your financial IQ.

As I don’t fall into either of the above categories, I’ll just have to see if I can win it at pachinko.

Japanese Debit Cards: A way around the credit card conundrum

While many personal finance websites rail against credit cards (and with good reason at times) there is no denying that they are very useful for foreigners living in Japan. Missing something from the homeland that you can only get through an internet vendor? Looking for rare books? Better get online and get out your credit card.

But alas, for those of us who have come to this fair isle without the privilege of having a card, the road to attaining one is ever so steep.  For those foreigners without the benefit of a spousal visa, or an  永住権　(eijuuken) permanent residency status, the path to attaining credit can be a bit rocky. From the perspective of most Japanese banks, foreigners on short term visas are a flight risk, and the rate of credit card refusals can be high.

So what’s a foreigner in such a position to do?

Get a debit card.

Available from a number of banks, debit cards allow all the advantages of being able to purchase online, coupled with far easier availability for us the credit-challenged masses. Plus there’s less risk of you spending beyond your means.

I have applied for an account at one of said banks and will apply for a visa debit card as soon as I can.  I will keep you informed as to how it tuns out. In the meantime, you can check out these debit card offers using the links below.

「スルガ銀行」　Suruga Bank Visa Debit Card

Japanese    (Bad) Japanese-English Translation

「イ－バンク｣　eBank Money Card

Japanese  (Bad) Japanese-English Translation

また今度・・・ until next time…

“High” interest banking in Japan

A long while ago, I recommended to my readers (all five of you, and I do appreciate you browsing my page!) to check out Shinsei Bank. Unfortunately, they have been experiencing a bit of turbulence lately, having lost a fair amount of money and are currently playing musical chairs in the board of directors’ suite. The results: American CEO-out Japanese ex-CEO-in. And so I started thinking a bit more about where to put my money.

Having recently learned the Japanese word for interest （金利 kinri）I did a search on the internet for “high interest bank accounts” (高金利口座　kou-kinri-kouzai) in my broken Japanese. Not amazingly, some results came up (even this country of notoriously low interest rates) including this site with a handy-dandy bank interest rate comparison chart. (位　i means place in Japanese with １位　meaning “first place” ２位　”second place” and so on. Before you get too excited with Yen rates over 0.5%, keep in mind the minimum deposit amounts listed on the right hand side of the chart. They are listed in 万　man or 10,000 yen units and many of them are yen time deposits which will not mature from a month’s time to several years from now.

While none of these are wonderful for long range investing (there is such a high chance of inflation gobbling up your money), yen time deposits might be good places to stash your cash for your next trip home/Thailand or storing up money to send home or invest. Hey, why not grow your investment by 10 yen while you wait to move it along to something better overseas? “Better than a kick in the teeth” as a friend of mine once said.

Japanese husbands’ 3,000,000 reasons to check the bottom of the natto container

A few days ago I mentioned a case recently profiled in the Japanese mass media of two sisters who had socked away several billion yen in a garage near their house. While the case of these two sisters is unique, married women have been stashing away hidden cash reserves of ”belly button money” or hesokuri （臍繰り）for a long time. In fact, this tradition is deeply rooted in Japanese history, according to this article from the International Herald Tribune back in 2006.

According to a July survey by Sompo Japan Insurance of 500 married women nationwide, 55 percent of all Japanese wives keep a cash stash of which their husbands are unaware. The average amount being saved by those women was estimated at ¥3.15 million, or $27,400, up from ¥2.3 million a year earlier….

 The Bank of Japan has estimated that there is ¥42 trillion in cash hidden in Japanese households – money that could be employed more productively elsewhere….

“Japanese wives take a great joy from saving and managing household money,”… When cash is set aside as hesokuri, the bank notes are usually hidden in a dresser, at the back of bookshelves or even in the refrigerator….

“You might find them strapped in the bottom of a natto container,” (a fermented soy bean dish popular in Japan).

Maybe Mrs. Sato has something to smile about after all…

Poor Mrs. Sato…

Was browsing around the personal finance sites out there the other day and came across this sad story detailing the financial woes of Mrs. Sato (the average Japanese housewife) at Thicken My Wallet. Hope it doesn’t remind you of someone you know…

Mari Sato has nodded off on the train again. It’s been happening a lot lately, the result of sleepless nights worrying about a money crisis. Like most Japanese wives, Mrs. Sato is the family’s money manager, therefore it’s up to her to resolve this financial problem. So she lies awake at nights trying to figure out how.

To put it bluntly, Mrs. Sato needs cash — a lot of it, and soon. Her daughter, Sumiko, will likely be admitted into a prestigious university. That would ensure a good career with an excellent salary. But the Satos will have to pay an annual tuition fee of $8,500….

The Rat Race: Running after the cheese

Recently, I have been thinking about the future. I am currently working as an English teacher in Japan, a species whose overpopulation may threaten the survival of the group. It seems as each year rolls around, salaries continue their inevitable decline into oblivion, while the amount of work stays the same.

So, in the hopes of escape, I am trying to get my finances under control and find a more stable and rewarding job. Recently, I have been reading a number of business and personal finance books in the hope of becoming financially literate and out of the paycheck-to-paycheck situation I currently find myself in. Life in Japan can be fun, but the fun usually ends up costing you a lot more than you would expect. A night out, some drinks and next thing you know you have spent a magical 10000 yen note. It adds up quickly.

So, I felt quite lucky to come across a site on living frugally in Japan. Ways to save a few yen here and there. Wendy J. Imura’s Frugal Watch, has loads of money saving tips. There’s also the collaborative Frugal Japan Wiki a collaborative effort with tips on everything from cheap DIY projects to saving on travel (if such a thing is possible in the land of the rising sun). Anyhow, there are loads of good ideas to peruse.

Setting up your first bank account in Japan can be a pretty confusing experience for the average foreigner. There are forms to fill out that are filed with kanji. Plus, having to deal with the bank in a language you are still struggling to understand. reward for your labours? An interest rate on savings that is barely discernable with an electron microscope (around 0.3%). 

And then there are the ATM fees, which can cost you from 100-200 yen per transaction depending on the time of day, the ATM you are using, or the phases of the moon.

Thankfully, there are some banks out there that offer English services for foreigners and online banking in English. One of them is Shinsei Bank, which currently offers banking services in English, as well as very low-cost access to your money. At the moment of this writing Shinsei offers no service charge on ATM withdrawals at any time of the day. In addition, they offer online services in English, including the ability to send up to four bank transfers (振込み　furikomi) a month for free via their online site. To perform these transfers from the ATM of an average bank costs around 300 to 400 yen. Well worth checking out.

That’s all for today’s tips. Take care and happy saving.