Opening and using a bank account in Japan as a foreign resident: requirements, English-friendly banks, and alternatives.
This article may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Sony Bank no longer runs a separate English banking service. It stopped English account applications on June 30, 2025. It replaced English online banking with AI machine translation in late March 2026. Your existing account still works, and … Read more
This article may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. SBI Shinsei Bank still works in English, but how you reach it has changed. You get English internet banking and English web support. English phone calls ended in October 2024. Since July 2026, non-Japanese customers can open an … Read more
This article may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. No single bank is best for every foreigner in Japan. PRESTIA and SBI Shinsei Bank offer the most English after you open an account. Japan Post Bank is often the easiest first account, but its app only takes … Read more
This article may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. You can open a Japanese bank account with your residence card, but the bank you pick matters. Some banks let you apply in an app. Others ask you to visit a branch, and some refuse people who arrived … Read more
