Sending money home from a 60-90 day Tokyo stay

You can send money out of Japan during a 60-to-90-day stay without a brick-and-mortar Japanese bank account. You do not need a 住民票 (jūminhyō — resident registry record). You do not need a SWIFT field on a paper form. Wise and Revolut handle most of the volume the segment needs at 0.4% to 0.7% above the mid-market rate. The path is foreigner-routine, not bureaucracy.

The remittance guides you find by search assume a different reader. They assume you have an established Mizuho or MUFG account, a 印鑑 (inkan — registered seal) on file, and a year-old 住民票 attached to the branch. Inside that product, the guide-walk is right: SWIFT outbound, foreign-tax clearance documents, ¥3,500–¥7,500 wire fees, three-day settlement. None of it applies to a 60-day guest.

This guide walks through what works for a midterm guest. It names each option's fees and the holds to plan around. It also covers the narrow case where opening an SBI Shinsei or GMO Aozora account is still worth a week of setup.

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Why the GaijinPot version assumes a long-stay banking setup

The remittance essays you find by search target the resident reader. They assume the reader has been in Japan 1 to 5 years and has a juminhyo. They also assume a Mizuho or MUFG account opened with a hanko at a foreigner-friendly branch. Inside that product the SWIFT outbound makes sense. The branch has the wire desk and the staff knows the form. The fee math is competitive against pre-2018 alternatives. ¥3,500–¥7,500 per outbound, plus a ¥1,500–¥2,500 lifting fee on the receiving side.

The fee math from those guides is consistent. ¥4,000 outbound at the branch, plus ¥2,000 receiving, plus a 0.5% to 1.5% spread baked into the bank's TTS rate. On a ¥500,000 transfer, that is roughly ¥6,000 in fees and ¥2,500–¥7,500 in spread. Total: ¥8,500–¥13,500. Not great, not terrible. The guide is also right that you usually need 外国送金依頼書 (gaikoku sōkin iraisho — outbound foreign-remittance request form) signed in person.

The horror stories also assume more. A 国内口座 (kokunai kōza — domestic account) tied to your salary, with months of deposit history. A wire desk that recognizes you as a regular. That assumption is the residential reader's, not yours.

Your situation is different. You have been in Japan 4 to 12 weeks. You arrived on a tourist visa, a digital nomad visa, or a short-stay work visa with a 90-day residence card. You have no juminhyo, no hanko, and no domestic salary deposit. The branches that would open an account for you can do so in 5 to 10 business days. The first outbound transfer from a brand-new account is then held another 5 to 10 business days for AML review. By the time the rail clears, you are nearly home.

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The three real options

For a 60-to-90-day Tokyo guest who needs to send money home, three products handle nearly all of the volume.

The first two are designed for the segment you are in. The third works if you have time to open an account and a reason to keep it. None require a brick-and-mortar bank visit, an inkan, or an in-branch SWIFT form.

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Wise: the default for a midterm guest

Wise is the default outbound rail for the 60-to-90-day stay. The product is built for the cross-border money movement you are doing.

What it costs. A ¥500,000 send to a USD recipient in the United States runs roughly ¥2,300 in fees. That is 0.46% per Wise's published fee schedule for JPY → USD as of 2026, plus the mid-market rate with no spread. A ¥500,000 send to EUR runs roughly ¥2,650 (0.53%). To GBP is similar. Smaller amounts charge a fixed component plus a smaller percent; ¥50,000 to USD runs roughly ¥350. The fee table is on wise.com/jpy-to-usd-rate and updates per corridor.

What it needs. A Wise account, which most foreigners open in their home country before arriving. JP-residency is not required to open or to use the account. You can send from Wise's JPY balance to any recipient bank, or to a Wise recipient anywhere. Fund the JPY balance two ways. Either pull from a Japanese bank by 振込 (furikomi — domestic bank transfer initiated by the sender) once you have one. Or fund directly from a foreign-currency balance you topped up before arrival.

The midterm trap. Suppose you arrived with USD or EUR on your Wise card and never opened a Japanese bank account. You cannot fund the JPY balance from inside Japan. You can still spend USD/EUR by Wise card and receive JPY refunds to the card. But the outbound JPY → USD send only works on JPY you already hold on the Wise balance. If your Tokyo income is foreign-paid (employer abroad, contracts abroad), this is fine. Your foreign-currency balance funds the send. If your Tokyo income is JPY-paid and you have no Japanese bank, the JPY sits in cash or on a prepaid card. You cannot push it into Wise.

The activation step you may have missed. Wise asks for a 在留カード (zairyū kādo — residence card) verification when you change your registered country to Japan. If you do not change your country, the account stays as a foreign-resident account and works fine for your stay. Switching to Japan-resident triggers a re-verification flow, a 1-to-3-business-day hold, and a slightly different fee schedule. Most midterm guests should not switch their registered country to Japan. The account is more flexible left as-is.

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Revolut JP: a real option if you have a residence card

Revolut runs a Japan-licensed entity called Revolut Technologies Japan. It holds a 関東財務局 (Kantō Zaimu-kyoku) Type II Funds Transfer Service registration. The entity lets a Japan resident open a JPY-denominated account on a residence card. From there you can send money out to any of 30+ supported corridors.

What it costs. Revolut JP's outbound fee structure is plan-tiered. The free Standard plan caps outbound at ~¥75,000/month before a 1% surcharge applies. A 0.5–1.0% weekend FX spread sits on top of the mid-market rate. The paid plans (Plus at ¥980/month, Premium at ¥1,980/month, Metal at ¥3,280/month) raise the cap and shrink the surcharge. Take a ¥500,000 outbound to USD on a weekday with Premium. Total cost is roughly ¥3,000 in fees plus a 0.0% weekday spread = ¥3,000. On Standard with the same send, the surcharge over the ¥75,000 cap pushes it closer to ¥6,000–¥8,000.

What it needs. A residence card. Any visa class is accepted as of late 2025. The 90-day digital-nomad visa works. The tourist visa does not, because it does not produce a residence card. The KYC scan is in-app and takes 24 to 48 hours to verify. Funding is by Japanese bank transfer (you need a Japanese bank account at this point) or by foreign card top-up.

Why it is conditional. Revolut JP is only useful if you have a Japanese bank account to fund it from. A 60-day tourist-visa stay produces no residence card, so Revolut JP is closed. A 90-day digital-nomad visa stay with no Japanese bank works for receiving and spending. It does not work for outbound at scale. With an SBI Shinsei or GMO Aozora account opened in week one, Revolut JP is genuinely competitive with Wise on weekday sends.

The weekend spread. Revolut adds a 0.5–1.0% spread on FX outside Tokyo banking hours. The cheap window is weekday 06:00–02:00 Asia/Tokyo. Most of the weekend pays the spread. Wise pegs to mid-market 24/7. If you send mostly on weekends, Wise is cleaner. If you send mostly on weekdays, the difference is small.

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SBI Shinsei and GMO Aozora: when an internet-bank account is worth the week

The case for opening a Japanese internet bank during a 60-to-90-day stay is narrow but real.

SBI Shinsei. The PowerFlex account is the foreigner-friendliest option in the segment. They accept residence card, passport, and a Japanese address (apartment is fine; they do not check juminhyo for the basic account). Online application takes 30 minutes. The cash card arrives in 7 to 10 business days. The outbound foreign-remittance product is online — no branch visit, no paper form. Fees are ¥2,000 to ¥4,000 per outbound depending on destination. The bank's TTS spread sits roughly 1.0% to 1.5% above mid-market.

GMO Aozora Net Bank. Similar opening flow, online-only, residence-card-required. Outbound is via 海外送金 (kaigai sōkin — overseas remittance) in the app. ¥3,000 per outbound to most major corridors, plus a 1.0% to 1.5% spread. Slightly faster app UX than SBI Shinsei. Slightly higher fees. Same first-transfer hold.

The first-transfer hold to plan around. Both banks freeze the first outbound from a new account for AML review. SBI Shinsei holds for 5 to 10 business days. GMO Aozora holds for 3 to 7 business days. The hold runs from the date you submit the outbound, not from the account-opening date. Suppose you open in week one of a 90-day stay and submit your first outbound in week three. The money lands at home in week four or five. On a 60-day stay, the math is tighter; the hold can land your first outbound after you have left the country.

When the internet-bank route is worth it. Three cases:

• You expect 2 to 5 outbound transfers over the stay (paying down a foreign mortgage, sending tuition home, monthly support to family). The ¥2,000 to ¥4,000 fee per outbound is competitive with Wise once the account is open and the first hold has cleared.
• You want to receive JPY salary or contractor payments locally. Some Japanese clients only pay to a domestic Japanese bank account, not to Wise's IBAN-style number. The internet bank is the only way to land that JPY for outbound conversion.
• You expect to repeat the trip in 12 months and want the account already open for the next stay.

When it is not worth it. Three signs to skip it: a 60-day stay where you expect one or two transfers, a tourist visa with no residence card, or a stay with foreign-only income (everything paid abroad, nothing in JPY).

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Why a brick-and-mortar SWIFT outbound rarely makes sense

The Mizuho, MUFG, or Sumitomo SWIFT outbound at a branch counter is the option the GaijinPot guide centers on. For a midterm guest, it is rarely the right rail.

The fees are competitive on paper. Roughly ¥3,500 to ¥5,500 outbound, plus ¥1,500 to ¥2,500 receiving, plus a 0.5% to 1.5% TTS spread. Total on ¥500,000 is roughly ¥7,000 to ¥12,000.

The friction is not the fees. The friction is the door. To open a brick-and-mortar account on a 90-day visa, you need three things. A juminhyo, which most midterm guests do not register for because the address is the operator's. A Japanese phone number. A branch that will see a non-Japanese-speaking applicant on a short visa. SMBC's Roppongi branch and Mizuho's Yotsuya foreign-friendly branches will. Most others will not. The whole flow takes 2 to 6 weeks from first visit to outbound capability. That is within range of your move-out date. By the time you can wire, you are flying home.

The SWIFT outbound itself wants more than just the form. It wants the receiving bank's SWIFT/BIC code, the recipient's local clearing number, the recipient's address in romaji, and the purpose-of-transfer code. Foreign-currency proceeds against a Japanese-residence withholding rule can also apply. The form is rejected and you redo it.

The case where the brick-and-mortar SWIFT works is narrow. Your employer pays you in JPY to an account you already opened in a prior stay. You want to repatriate ¥2,000,000 or more. At that volume the spread savings exceed the per-transfer Wise fee. Below that, Wise wins on cost and time.

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Comparison: cost on a typical ¥500,000 outbound

For a typical midterm send (¥500,000 from Tokyo to a USD recipient in the United States, on a weekday), here is the math.

Wise is the cheapest path for a midterm guest at the ¥500,000 size. SBI Shinsei is competitive on the second and third outbound after the hold has cleared. The brick-and-mortar SWIFT is the wrong product unless you already have the account open.

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What to do today

Run this in order, ideally 1 to 2 weeks before your flight or in week one of the stay.

1. Open a Wise account in your home country if you do not have one. The verification is faster from a country where you already hold a bank account. Add JPY as one of your held currencies. Top up roughly the amount you expect to send home, in your home currency, before you fly.
2. Decide whether you need a Japanese bank account at all. If you expect 1 to 2 outbound transfers and your income is foreign-paid, you do not. Use Wise.
3. If you decide you need a Japanese bank, apply at SBI Shinsei or GMO Aozora online in week one. Use your operator-provided Tokyo address. Submit your residence card. Plan for 7 to 10 business days to receive the cash card.
4. Submit the first outbound transfer through the JP internet bank in week two or three. Plan for the 5-to-10-business-day first-transfer hold. Subsequent outbounds settle in 1 to 3 business days.
5. If you have a residence card and want a smoother weekday-outbound experience than SBI Shinsei's, set up Revolut JP in parallel. Fund it from your JP bank once the cash card arrives. Standard plan is fine for under ¥75,000/month; Premium pays for itself if you send ¥250,000+/month.
6. Keep your Wise account as the fallback for any send under ¥200,000. The fee math always wins at smaller sizes.
7. Before departure, verify any in-flight outbound has settled. Do not close the JP bank account until the last refund or cleanup transfer has cleared. Refunds and reconciliation transfers cannot route to a closed account.
8. If you'd like halfkey to compare furnished mid-term shortlists with bank-application-friendly addresses, reply to this article's contact form with your dates and ward.

The whole setup is roughly 2 hours of work spread across pre-flight and week one. The mistake to avoid: planning to open a Mizuho account on day three for a SWIFT outbound on day twenty. That path does not end at "money home for a 60-to-90-day stay."

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— halfkey runs furnished Tokyo apartments for stays of 30 days to 12 months. Browse listings for your dates.