Having been in Japan for over 3 months you would think I’d already have a bank account by now. In which case you’d be right, though I’ve had the bank account for less than 3 days and only because I was near enough forced to do it by my company - which ok is fair game considering this is 2007.

Let me explain, Japan is a pretty cash based society - unlike most of Europe which in the last 10 years has been heading (or trying to head) towards some utopian, and slightly disturbing, cashless system. In the UK I didn’t really use cash that much. You can pay with most things with your debit/cash card and it’s much ’safer’ and hassle free than carrying loads of change around.

In Japan I was told even before I left that things were quite different - you should always have enough cash on you to cover what you might need for the day, and when it comes to taking cash out it’s a little more trickier than in Europe. Cash points close at 11pm or earlier, and after that the only place you can take money out are conviny stores. Luckily these are everywhere, but of course using their machines incur charges (as it does in the UK). As for using foreign cards it’s also tricky, even though I soon found out my trusty old UK debit card worked in post office cash points :grin:

Another thing that doesn’t seem to happen anywhere near as often as it does in Europe is paying for things with cards - in the time I’ve been here I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times I’ve seen someone pay for something with a card. It’s all very weird, considering how technologically advanced Japan is in many respects. When it comes to banking it seems that as a friend put it ‘they’re still in the middle ages’. And funnily enough this was only confirmed when I had a chat with one of my students who called the Japanese banking system ‘very conservative’.

My recent experience with getting a bank account added to this feeling that Japan’s banking system is definitely on the ‘old school’ side of things, but it was also a pretty nice insight into the wonders of Japanese bureaucracy and what I can only describe as a Japanese attitude to ‘how things should be done’.

I tried getting a bank account a month or so ago. Our company told us that we had to go to Nakano branch (miles from where I live) to get one as they had English speaking staff and this was where all staff were sent and they had some sort of deal with them to make it easier. I put it off for as long as possible as I didn’t feel like wasting one of my days off doing something like that, and then one weekend Ella called me to say that we didn’t need to go there - she’d just been to the branch of the same bank in town, SMBC, and got her account in no time. Sweet, things were looking good.

A week later I fill in all my forms, with some confusion when it came to writing my birth date (you have to right the year based on the emperor’s birth date - I still don’t get it :???: ) and other minor and funny ‘what the hell is this for’ reactions to the form, and head to the bank. My turn comes up, I sit down at the desk and manage to blabber my way through giving the form and answering some basic questions. When the woman suddenly stops and asks me for something. After a little confusion I realise she’s asking me for a stamp - see in Japan you don’t really use signatures, you use a personalised stamp with your name on it written in Kanji. Oh bollocks. So she calls the head office of my company and I’m then put on the phone and told by the not so helpful Japanese staff that I shouldn’t be in Kiyose getting a bank account, and what am I thinking trying to get one when I don’t have a stamp. Ok then, nevermind that Ella got one without a stamp the day before, this doesn’t seem to convince anyone that maybe I don’t need a stamp.

Let’s not even get to the slight flaw in their argument - where they’re asking me to go to Nakano branch where I can get an account without a stamp. Oooookaaay then, nevermind. I then decided I couldn’t be bothered - between the company staff being less than helpful and stuck in some sort of non-sensical ‘this is how you do it and that’s that’ mode and the woman at the bank who had the expression of paint drying on a wall and the helpfullness of it too, I was a bit pissed. I just wanted a bank account and not have to waste a day to get it either. Screw this I thought, I’m quite happy being paid in cash and after all it’s not like I’m going to be having a lot of use for a bank account anyways when it’s easier to pay everything in cash - from food to bills.

That was until I got given a two deadline to get an account or else my wages would have to be picked up from Chiba prefecture, a whole 3 hours round trip from where I live. Right then back to square one. I get up early in the morning and head out in the pouring rain on my bike to the bank. I then wait my turn whilst imploring my lucky stars that I get someone who is kind enough to ask me for a signature instead of a stamp when who do I see asking me over to the desk? The same woman as before :evil: okay then this isn’t starting too good. Same thing again, we get to the signature bit and she’s asking for the stamp. I very kindly tell her I can sign instead, it’s ok I don’t need a stamp. She looks confused, and then asks me for a stamp. At this point I can see this isn’t going to go the way I want it to. A few more pointless exchanges later, and she’s not getting off it. I’m once more put on the phone to my office, and told with no difference from the time before that I need to go to Nakano for my account. At which point I slightly lose it and tell them that having given me two days notice to get an account I’d be nice if they could actually help me rather than tell me what I already know - but no this is Japan and god damn it if the gaijin won’t listen to what is good for him. Silly foreign man.

So I leave feeling quite pissed, and once home wonder what the hell I’m going to do. When Ella suggests I go and try my luck at a different branch. Now there’s a good idea and one I’m not quite sure why I didn’t think about before. So off I go to work, two stations away and first things first I head into the local branch. Once more imploring some luck I step up to the desk and put on my best smile and ’sumimasen’ implorations. Thank god the woman seemed to be a little more kind to the poor gaijin - she asked me if I had a stamp rather than tell me I needed one and kindly accepted it when I said that I would sign instead. Whoo hoo finally I got through. As a nice aside she did however ask me to redo the entire form as I had written my name down the European way, ie first name first, whereas in Japan the family name comes first and this is how my name is written on my gaijin card. At this point I was so happy to have got through the fog of bureaucracy I was only too happy to oblige and redo everything.

I was then only too happy to call my office and explain how I had got an account without a stamp - crazy that. Anyways, gloating aside, it was a pretty interesting experience. There’s a definite sense of frustation with the way Japanese bureaucracy is seemingly so unmovable. Not that it’s any different elsewhere, but when you’re not familiar at all with the way things are done and unable to really speak or understand 95% of what is being asked of you, it’s really frustrating to be told something when you know for a fact that there is another option - it’s just not the way things are done and therefore most people will refuse or pretend they can’t do it.

Apparently this is quite a common experience for foreigners, with many being able to find a nice enough person like me to help them through and then promptly telling their friends who all follow suit and go to the branch to get their account sorted out.

Stamps in Japan are essential for official documents and the likes. Though as someone explained to me there’s various levels for their use - in the case of really official or important document you not only need a stamp, but you also need a document from your local city office approving the stamp as official :neutral: . Now I don’t know about you, but yeah signatures are easy to forge, but it’s not like a stamp isn’t easy to forge either. So much so that it’s now become quite a problem in Japan, forcing them to start considering a different option. A nice aside was also recounted by my student who explained that she recently found out that when it comes to wills in this country, the law says they need to be handwritten and signed by hand to be valid… go figure the logic behind that.

As for the banking system it’s definitely something else too. It feels weird to know I have an account but I can’t quite use it in the same way I did back home - and don’t even be thinking about internet banking either! Thing is I haven’t actually found it difficult to switch back to using cash only - it’s quite nice in a way, especially when you’re not worried about being robbed or carrying huge amounts of cash around, like you would be back home. It’s a bitch when you forget your cash at home, and for that the bank card and account are going to be useful.

And apparently when it comes to credit card, Japan is a whole other story too. Ah well, I’ll have to leave trying that one until later. For now I just want to stay as far away from Japanese bureaucracy as I possibly can.

Popularity: 1%

written by Laurent