Well, I've been waiting for Drew to write his part for today about his exchange with a bank teller. That's what the hold-up has been. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
First, my "money matters:"
Japan is very much a cash-based society. Many places do not take credit cards, and personal checks are not used here. We used to walk around in the U.S. with $20 in our pocket and think nothing of it. Here we feel underdressed if we don't have at least 30,000 yen in our wallets. So if personal checks aren't used in Japan, how do we pay our various utility bills? Why, at the 7-11, of course! Today I paid my first bill at the conbini (convenience store). And yes, there are 7-11's here, though that wasn't the specific one where I paid my bill. I gave the cashier my bill, he scanned the barcode, I gave him the cash, and he gave me a stamped receipt. Pretty easy (though it feels a little odd)!
Now, Drew's "money matters:"
Today I needed to move 600,000 JPY from my bank account to that of the car dealer (note from Jen: we're buying a car). While this can be done online, if you don’t have a Japanese keyboard (or read Japanese, for that matter), the online route is a bit difficult. Fortunately, I have a Citibank branch in my office building, so I popped down there at lunchtime to get things squared away. Armed with my trusty printout of the email with instructions from the car dealer, I approached the teller with the normal amount of trepidation. I successfully told her what I wanted to do, and she explained that she could perform this transaction at her window, but it would cost 850 JPY (about 12 USD). However, this could be performed at the ATM machine for a smaller charge (425 JPY), which she would be happy to assist me to perform. She offered this service in a very apologetic manner, as it seemed to me that she felt that even the 425 JPY charge was excessive, and it was a personal failing that she couldn’t conceive of a manner to assist me and further reduce the charge.
First, however, we needed to call and, by using my phone banking pin (which I fortunately had in hand), increase the transaction limit so I could do this at the ATM. The teller placed the call to the phone banking center, navigated the prompts, and handed me the phone to enter the pin. She took the phone back and got me to an agent who spoke English, where I bumped my limit up (it took effect immediately).
We then walked over to the ATM together, where she pretty much drove for the entire experience, save entering my pin, and my verifying that a few details had been entered correctly. Total elapsed time, about 15 minutes. I’m sure the Citibank execs back in the US who set this counter fee at 850 JPY are quite pleased with themselves for extracting the right value for this service.
P.S. I went back a few days later to do another transfer and then noticed a small sign on the ATM instructing those who require assistance to go get a teller who will gladly help them. Only in Japan …
Japanese word of the day: conbini (click to hear pronunciation) means "convenience store"
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