Sending money out of Japan to a foreign bank account in your own country has never been very easy. In fact, if you consider the ever-changing bank laws in Japan, high banking fees charged by both foreign and domestic players here, or simply the scarcity of locations that can even handle foreign currency, sending money overseas has been a painful experience.

For these reasons, Seven Bank, with its new money transfer service that comes built into more than 15,000 ATMs through the network of Seven Eleven conveniences stores (the two services are part of the same parent company) is perhaps the best answer. The service is delivered by Western Union, so money can be sent just about anywhere in the world and can be picked up by someone on the other end without the need for them having their own bank account (Western Union sends to 400,000 pickup locations in 200 countries).

The network of stores throughout Japan solves the location problem, Western Union solves the pricing issue and the multilingual support of the ATM machines fixes any language barriers.

Fees

To get an idea of the fees, you can send ¥10,000 for only ¥990 and ¥50,000 for only ¥1,500 with no payment due on the receiving end. Transactions can take place in a matter of minutes.

Register

Before using the service, you will need to register at Seven Bank online or contact the call center to request the forms via mail. Once you have proven your ID, registered the people you wish to transfer money to and sent the forms back, everything will be set up again, without charge.

How it works

Once registered, you will receive a Seven Bank cash card that you can use at ATMs in Seven Eleven conveniences stores. After you have entered your PIN and are ready to use the service, simply choose the name of the person you wish to receive the funds, enter the amount and everything else will be handled automatically. You will need to send the 10-digit security number separately to the recipient. It is that number that they use to claim the money at their nearest Western Union outlet (often found in post offices and foreign exchange centers).

As a bonus, you can also transfer money using Seven Bank’s Internet/mobile banking service.
Find out more, here.
Or phone 0120-93-7711 (English) / 0120-77-1179 (Japanese)