Sending and Receving Money In Japan

[Helgen]

Hi, I'm going to be moving to Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan in 2 months.

I am wondering an easy way to send and receive money without a credit card or western union (which tends to be expensive.)

I was thinking of using money orders, but not sure, Sasebo doesn't have really much things close to it like banks, got to drive an hour or two.

What's the best way to go about this? If I do the money order, how exactly can I send the money and receive it there? Thanks very much.

[samokan]

try asking the Post office. I think they have money order there..or paypal

[Sangetsu]

You can use the post office, but the fees are expensive. More than likely you're employer will help you set up a bank account at the post office to facilitate your pay.

Money transfers through other places are rather difficult. Western Union used to have an office in Tokyo, but it was closed down last January. I know that one bank in Tokyo now offers Moneygram service, but I don't know if that's available in Nagasaki.

I use 2 different options. If I need to send a large amount of money, I use paypal. Unfortunately, for this to work you would need a Japanese credit card and an American bank account. For small amounts of cash I simply mail it in an envelope.

[samokan]

for paypal, its not necessarily a credit card.. if you can open a japanese bank account then its possible

i use paypal and transfer it to my mufg acct and it works fine, i think it was service charge is 600yen per transaction regardless of the amount..