Absurd new bank transfer issues...

Has anyone transferred money in or out of Japan recently? I've been getting calls from my bank about any wire transfers from a foreign country. I asked the guy at the bank if they were going to start calling me about every international transfer and he said that they would since it's law now.

I've had a few calls in the past and usually they ask a lot of questions. I just tell them it's a business transaction and they just keep asking. Usually it's for computers and they start asking me questions about hardware or software, who the Buyers are, etc. It's pretty invasive.

Well this time it was a reimbursement from my health insurance company for a routine checkup that I had. The guy starts asking me what the results were, if I had any diseases, etc. I just kept telling him that it was a checkup. I skipped the whole "like I'd tell you if I had a disease" part.

I mentioned it to a friend and he told me about his girlfriend sending money home from Japan. They asked her how she earned the money, why she was sending it home, what she intended to use the money for, etc. She said that she would probably pay off her visa card and they actually asked her what she bought with her visa...heh.

Just curious if anyone else has run into this issue or not. It sounds like they want to know what every dollar is for that comes in or goes out. Part of me wants to give absurd answers like, "I'm buying baby elephants" but the other part of me knows that getting a red flag probably isn't worth the headache of a good story.

 

A few years back Yamaguchi Bank would always stop paypal transfers from entering my account until I'd answer their telephone call. In the end I told them it was money sent to me by my parents because they were loaded :lol: They stopped calling me and let the money enter my account but then the shits started to tax me 2500 yen on every transfer. no matter what the amount was. They didn't stop charging me until I went down to the bank in person and caused a bit of a fuss with the bank manager. Now I have no problems at all.

Yakumo

 

WOW seriously 2500 yen a transfer? That's some seriously messed up crap.

Why are international laws so crazy like this?:flamethrower:

 

i had to open an account with Mizuho and had to agree to have my salary paid into that account in order to get a housing loan. I closed down my Citibank account who had been pretty awful in comparison to HSBC/First Direct in the UK.

But oh my word... i am going back to Citibank. Mizuho are a pain in the arse to deal with and the transfer charges are stupid, especially as they are FREE if you have over a certain amount in your account at Citibank (oh, and you can do them over the internet, which Miz don't seem to be up with)

Re: transfers - i've always had to state what the reason for transferring back was, but if they start asking WHAT i bought? What the fuck business is it of the bank?

 

Yes, Japanese banks are retarded as with most things in Japan. And do you know why? Because nobody here says a thing or lifts a finger in their own defense.

yakumo

PS: I still can't understand why the fuck I can't have 24 hour access to MY money like we've had back in the Uk since ATMs arrived.

 

because after midnight you will probably spend it on drugs and hookers? :thumbsup:

 

True, or at least the hookers part and booze :dance:

 

The "automatic" part of ATM is lost here.

Anyway, I use Shinsei & Citibank... ironically, Shinsei is much more of a gaijin bank than Citi. The only questions I've gotten about xfers are incoming ones that are very large, and they're always from the authorities, not the bank. I declare them all on my taxes, so maybe I should take the 10 seconds to look and see if it is about terrorism.

 

Well if I am in Tokyo, I can access my money nearly 24 hours a day as the Citibank in Shibuya does have a 24 (sans a few hours a week) cashpoint (or did when I was last living around Shibuya).

If I am in a tiny town somewhere around the Saitama, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma borders then I am lucky to get access to my money from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and if I cycle far enough then I can increase this to 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm on Saturday and if I need money on a Sunday then well I can always borrow it...

 

Yes, things here are absolutely retarded.

Do you know that if you got divorced and your wife gives birth within 300 days of you divorce, that you are legally responsible to financially support the child EVEN IF IT IS NOT YOUR OWN CHILD AND THE REASON FOR THE DIVORCE WAS YOUR WIFE'S INFIDELITY! What is the reasoning for this retarded law? Because, according to the government, Japanese people are faithful to their spouse and never lie. That is why the divorce rate is so low, after all...

Not only is this country retarded, but it is fully of habitual liars.

They really need to remove the word "shoganai" from the Japanese vocabulary. That stupid word is like a religion to 98% of the sheep/population.


For the OP, I don't usually transfer money. I carry a huge wad of cash every time I travel home.

 

fair enough but in a real modern country you can get your money no matter where you are.

I never knew that. What a load of F*ing retarded crap that is.

Oh yes, you're right there. I'm a "leader" in my company which requires me to do things the Japanese way. In other words make everything sound fine and happy. Like hell I do though. Tell it as it is :nod:

We have this Canadian working for us who's a right twat but will the company fire him? No! We even lost a contract through him. If it was up to me his arse would have been fired long ago.

That and Shikatanai. I hate both of those words. It's their answer for anything that requires even the minimal amount of conflict.

Yakumo

 

They've not updated their "marriage" related laws in something like 100 years. You're equally as fucked on the other side if you get divorced and want to see your child.

On the flip side, as they are not a part of the Hague convention, you could very easily tell your ex-wife to go fuck herself and leave. They also have no extradition policy with anyone. Actually, you probably wouldn't even have to leave. From what I understand, post-marital "situations" are rarely, if ever, enforced. Even if they are, child support you're required to pay (according to a friend of mine that went through a nasty one) is sheckles. He gladly pays her double the required amount as she has the kid. Basically everyone gets fucked and if your ex-spouse is childish, it can get ugly.

 

How on EARTH does Japan have the good reputation is has among the general populace of most western countries? Even the "cool" things like anime, video games, ninjas and sushi/sashimi are REALLY fucked up.

How so?
Anime: tentacles raping jr. high school girls.
Video games: Aside from a couple games, you have to admit that the stories in Final Fantasy games are seriously f'ed up. And Parodius? Cho Aniki? WTF?
Ninjas: Seems cool, but look into their history. They are only really cool if you're a fan of the KGB.
Sushi/Sashimi: they eat raw whales, dolphins and horse*. At least the Koreans cook their dogs**!


*I kind of like basashi
**As much as I hate to admit it, it's kind of tasty in chigae.

 

Well, I don't even eat meat. As for the games, I'm an old codger and for the late 80's early 90's (specifically arcades, but consoles as well) the Japanese in general just couldn't be dethroned. Now is a different story, but very little new stuff gets me hard.

It is quite shocking that most people don't know what a judicially impotent (or maybe over-erect, depending on what side you're on) society it can be. I'll never tell my mom about what would happen if the wife decided our son shouldn't see any white people any more. Sadly enough, that's all it comes down to, really.

 

But they won't steal your bike, and that's light years ahead of us assholes.

 

24 hours banks are almost non existent in japan? That is nuts. Isn't this the country that has the most 711 in the world? But then again over here people are using cash less and less and are relying more on debit cards.

 

And to boot you can't use credit cards in many place, and some will charge you a 5% asshole fee to do so. It's gotten better, regardless of what we bitch about. 10 years ago it was really hard to find any open until 9PM. 5-10 years before that it was 7PM. New Years? Fuck... if you didn't pull out money for a week (and buy food with it) there's a good chance you starved.

The thing is, despite the fact that ALL Japanese banks are linked together in some magical system of local remittance that costs almost nothing and is immediate (good luck finding something like that in the fucked up US system) they somehow just missed the fucking boat w/ the ATM thing. I blame it on the fact that people generally carried around heaps of cash all the time. NObody really had to go to the bank more than once every couple of weeks.

 

I've had 2 bikes and a few more umbrellas stolen in 4 years. One of the umbrellas was tied from my briefcase on a packed train. Someone actually cut the rope it was tied to. The only thing that keeps people in line here is fear of the SHAME that goes with being caught. Morality has nothing, or very little, to do with it in most cases.

Your comment made my earlier one very relevant;

Yes, they DO steal bicycles.

It is true that you are generally much safer walking around just about anywhere in large Japanese cities at night than you are in large cities in most other countries.

 

No they don't. that's the Chinese and other Asians and a few blacks and maybe the odd white man but NEVER a Japanese. Or so the locals and police seem to believe

I always find it funny when Japanese people point the finger at a foreigner before even suspecting their own.

Once a set of keys went missing from the office I used to work at and who did they blame? Yes, me. The called me at home to ask where they were rather than asking one of the sheep in the office. When I asked why would I have them, they answered "You're a foreigner so you must have taken them home. A Japanese person wouldn't do that." It brought great pleasure the next day when they found them in the desk of the supervisor. Oh how I gloated in that one.

Yakumo