Setting up an account here as a foreigner, even though you have some sort of resident status, is like a real life RPG. Opening an account anywhere in Europe is a matter of a few dozen minutes, or instantly online. All these absurd procedures are supposedly to prevent fraud. Because only foreigners commit fraud, apparently… So it’s gotten complicated. And lo and behold, it’s still happening. That you can’t transfer money between banks instantly on a weekend? The reason is supposedly because the transactions have to be audited. But this completely ignores the fact that outside of the weekend the same transaction takes place immediately. So does that mean that either no one checks it outside of the weekend, or on the other hand, some Tanaka-san checks it in a second outside of the weekend? The problem with banking here is more inefficiency and clinging to often 4 decade old systems. Or the simple fact that although there is one bank, another Branch other than the one where you opened your account won’t cancel or otherwise help. And this is 2023.

I can’t imagine any other complication at this point. And then that cash is king. Not when a grandmother, who is 86 years old, has to go through such a process.