Sending Money Abroad and Spending in Multiple Currencies as a Foreign Resident in Japan

Sending Money Abroad and Spending in Multiple Currencies as a Foreign Resident in Japan

Once you’re living in Japan, money doesn’t stay in one currency or one country. You might be sending part of your paycheck home, receiving income from abroad, or just want a card that doesn’t punish you every time you spend in a currency that isn’t yen. Here’s what your actual options look like, based on what each provider publishes about fees and speed.

What to actually compare

Two different problems get lumped together under “international money,” and they’re worth separating: sending a transfer from one country/currency to another, and spending or holding money in multiple currencies day-to-day. Some services do one, some do both. We looked at fee structure (is it published, and does it scale with amount?), how fast the money actually moves, and whether the service ties into everyday spending (a card) or is purely a one-off transfer tool.

Wise

Wise is built specifically around transparent transfer pricing, and it shows in how much detail they publish. For a $1,000 USD-to-JPY transfer, the fee depends entirely on how you fund it: paying via direct debit from a bank account costs $7.26, a standard bank transfer costs $11.67, a debit card costs $40.75, a credit card costs $57.60, and Apple Pay or Google Pay costs $66.68 — a roughly ninefold difference between the cheapest and most expensive funding method for the exact same transfer. Wise also discounts its fee automatically on transfers over $25,000.

Speed varies the same way: direct debit transfers typically arrive in about 4 minutes, card and digital wallet payments in about 34 minutes, and bank transfers can take until the end of the week. Across all their transfers, Wise states 74% arrive in under 20 seconds and 95% in under a day. The pricing model itself is worth understanding: Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate — the same one you’d see on a Google search — rather than marking up the rate and calling it a “no fee” transfer, which is what a lot of traditional banks do instead.

Beyond one-off transfers, Wise also offers a multi-currency account and a linked debit card for spending directly in foreign currencies, which matters if you want an ongoing tool rather than a single transfer.

Best for: transfers where you want to see the fee and exchange rate broken out honestly, and where you have flexibility in funding method to hit the cheaper end of that fee range.

SBI Remit (successor to SBI Shinsei Bank’s discontinued GoRemit)

One correction worth flagging: SBI Shinsei Bank’s own “GoRemit” international remittance service — previously a commonly recommended option for sending money from Japan — was discontinued on October 20, 2025. If you’re researching this and keep finding GoRemit mentioned, that information is now out of date. SBI Shinsei Bank itself now directs customers to SBI Remit Co., Ltd.’s international remittance service instead.

SBI Remit’s fees are tiered by destination and amount rather than a flat rate. As one example, sending to the Philippines runs from ¥480 for smaller amounts up to ¥1,500 at the higher tiers; sending to Vietnam runs from ¥460 up to ¥1,760. The maximum amount per transfer is capped at the equivalent of ¥1,000,000. One detail worth understanding before you send: transfers come in two types, OUR (you cover all fees, so the recipient gets the full amount) and SHA (fees may be deducted on the receiving end instead) — which one you pick affects how much actually lands in the recipient’s account.

Best for: residents of Japan sending money out to specific countries where SBI Remit’s destination-based pricing works out cheaper than a flat-fee competitor — worth comparing directly against Wise for your specific destination and amount.

SMBC Trust Bank PRESTIA — GLOBAL PASS

This one is different in kind from the two above: instead of a transfer service, GLOBAL PASS is a Visa debit card tied to a PRESTIA bank account that spends directly in 18 currencies, including yen. You fund it from either your yen savings account or a PRESTIA MultiMoney foreign currency deposit account, and it works for Visa payments both inside Japan and overseas, plus ATM withdrawals in Japan and abroad. Card issuance is free, and you can add up to two family cards at no extra cost for family members aged 12 and up.

The catch is that you have to already be a PRESTIA customer with both a yen savings account and a MultiMoney foreign currency account to qualify — this isn’t a standalone product, it’s a feature of banking with them. If you read our guide to opening a Japanese bank account, PRESTIA was one of the two banks covered there, and GLOBAL PASS is the practical payoff of choosing that bank specifically: you get a foreign-currency-native card as part of the relationship, not as an extra sign-up.

Best for: people who are (or are willing to become) PRESTIA account holders and want a single card that spends naturally in whichever currency they’re holding, rather than converting on every purchase.

Quick comparison

Recommendation by use case

If you’re sending a one-off or occasional transfer and want to compare real numbers before you commit: start with Wise — the fee and speed differences between funding methods are big enough that it’s worth checking before you default to a bank transfer.

If you’re a Japan-based resident regularly sending money to one specific country: compare SBI Remit’s destination-tiered pricing against Wise for that exact route — one or the other will usually come out ahead depending on the country and amount.

If what you actually want is to spend naturally in multiple currencies day-to-day, not just move money once: GLOBAL PASS is worth considering, but only if you’re already banking with PRESTIA or willing to become a customer — it’s not available as a standalone card.

If you were specifically looking for SBI Shinsei’s GoRemit: stop — it no longer exists. Use SBI Remit or Wise instead.

Conclusion

There’s no single winner here because “sending money” and “spending in multiple currencies” are genuinely different jobs. For transfers, compare Wise’s funding-method-based fees against SBI Remit’s destination-based pricing for your specific route — the cheaper option changes depending on where the money’s going and how you fund it. For everyday multi-currency spending, a linked debit card like GLOBAL PASS solves a different problem than either transfer service does.