Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com. Today we introduce you to the bank, your financial lifeline while your visiting! If you plan on traveling in Japan, you don’t want to miss today’s episode.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 27th, 2006 at 6:14 am and is filed under Survival Phrases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
44 Responses to “Survival Phrases #15 - Bank Part 1”
JapanesePod101.com says:
March 27th, 2006 at 6:17 am
皆さん、more on the bank coming up next week, so were open to requests. Please let us know if there is something you want to know about banks in Japan.
よろしくお願いします！
Richard says:
March 27th, 2006 at 6:31 am
Konnichiwa kara San Francisco!
I just discovered Japanesepod101 on the iTunes Music Store in March. I am hooked! I love your podcasts! I try to list most days during my commuting time from San Francisco to my job in Silicon Valley. I posted a review to my blog last week too 
http://eshibui.typepad.com/eshibui/2006/03/japanesepod101c.html
Keep up the great work! You guys ROCK!
Richard (a.k.a. Richado)
Nathan says:
March 27th, 2006 at 6:56 am
Richard-san,
Welcome to the community and thanks for the great review!! That’s quite a commute, but wow… 3 iPods - you’ve got it covered 
Nice blog! 
Nate says:
March 27th, 2006 at 9:25 am
Welcome Richard-san. With so many iPods dare I assume you own a Macintosh, or two?
I can’t believe you make that drive several times a week. Your gas bill must be through the roof.
At least you have Japanesepod101 to keep you company.
ネイト
Nate says:
March 27th, 2006 at 9:26 am
BTW tomorrow is the big day. Japanesepod101 will have it’s 100th podcast.
Everyone have their party hats on?
ネイト
Richard says:
March 27th, 2006 at 9:29 am
Hi Nathan-san,
Ohayo Tokyo!
Yep… Two hours in the car or on my motorcycle each day. It’s not so bad, because I get to see some beautiful scenery along highway 280 here in California. :.) This is a view from Hwy 35, which is the mountain ridge above 280. Sometimes I take this more scenic route home.
http://flickr.com/photos/87662045@N00/tags/skyline/
Plus I get to learn and practice my Japanese during my commute time. Keep creating these great podcasts. Perhaps you could talk about cars and motorcycles at some point.
You might recognize some of these places and things from my last trip to Japan in 2005 too. I loved the Shibuya podcast this week!
http://flickr.com/photos/87662045@N00/sets/1129833/
Thanks for the comment about my blog. I need to post more. You all are far more better at posting than I am…
Richard
San Francisco
Richard says:
March 27th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Hi Nathan-san,
Yes, I am a big Mac fan. I have a collection of older Macs and my current computer is a 15″ aluminum G4 PowerBook. My roommate has a few Macs too. ;.)
http://flickr.com/photos/87662045@N00/3835926/
Are you all Mac enthusiasts too?
Richard
Liz says:
March 27th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Hi, Richard!
Yes, I’m a Mac User, too! What’s not to like?? I enjoy making iMovies, etc. I went to Japan in 2004 and I made a whole bunch of “home movies” with titles, etc. I plan to go back to Japan in 2007, so this class is helping a whole lot!! By the way, I found a “work around” to get the informal audio selections: I just open up Garageband and record the sound as played on the website. It takes time, though, and I only did it once.:???: The Japanesepod101 team said they didn’t want to have the informal downloaded as it’s not really correct Japanese and we should really learn the correct Japanese first. I agree. I look forward to your future posts! 
Nathan says:
March 27th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Richard-san,
What a view! Nice pictures
We’ll keep that suggestion in mind
Liz-san,
Actually, you can right-click the informal link and download the file to your computer. We don’t have a problem with you downloading the file, but we want to make sure you come by the site first so that you can grab the extra notes and understand that it’s supplementary and should be used with caution. It’s not really “incorrect” Japanese, but you have to use it in the correct situations. Taking that extra initiative to come by the site and pick it up usually means that you’re an ambitious learner and will take care to use it wisely
Liz says:
March 27th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Nathan-San,
Thank for your gracious reply. Now I really do understand about the informal audio files.
“Right-click” would be nice but my Mac Mouse is a uni-mouse! 
If I drag the file to the desk top it is saved as an “http” link, not really an mp3. Can you help me out here?
Thanks!
Nathan says:
March 27th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Liz-san,
If you hold “Ctrl” down and click, it should bring up the context menu. From the context menu, you should be able to select “Save As”. Please let me know if this works or if you need further help!
Richard says:
March 27th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Nathan-san,
Perhaps you could talk about ATM usage and availability.
On my last trip to Japan I didn’t bring any traveller’s checks. I brought about US$200 in Yen that I exchanged here in Japantown (San Francisco) at the bank before I left for Japan. Once I was in Japan and I needed more cash, I then went to ATMs to get more Yen. The exchange rates were pretty good with this method. CitiBank in Shibuya was a great place for this type of transaction.
I used my VISA credit card too during my trip last fall (2005).
Richard
Liz says:
March 27th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
Nathan-San,
How did you answer me so fast?:???: Are you in Japan? Are you up at 7:00 a.m.? Anyway, thanks for the tip. Actually, what worked for me was to hold down the Option key, not the control key. When I held down the Option key it downloaded as an .mp3 file and I renamed it a little and dumped it into iTunes!! It worked!! The Control key just gave me option of saving to iTunes as a “stream” file.
Thanks for this tip!! You are great!
jay says:
March 27th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Ps. I am a pc person! Plus I am a graphic designer/illustrator. Mac’s look great though, bootiful design.
Nathan says:
March 27th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Richard-san, thanks for another great idea
Liz-san, I’m actually everywhere, and I don’t sleep I’m glad you figured it out, though!!
Jay-san, fight the machine!
Ormo says:
March 27th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
The banks at home are open from 9 or 9:30 until 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon…
I never thought of Japan as having too many coins though… but then Peter is an American and there aren’t oo many coins over there right? It’s good once to get the hang of counting change at checkouts…
Peter says:
March 27th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
皆さん、be back soon to post a bit more, as were still running some tests to find out what the 1 yen coin is made of.
Jonas says:
March 27th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
jay-san: You haven’t seen the japanese 1 yen coin! You need 110 of those to get the value of $1! And they fill up your pockets sooo fast, since you never get a chance to use them. And if you use them, You’re gonna use forever picking them out of your pocket or wallet…. USELESS! I wish Japan made the move and cut away one”0″ from everything… But thats just me 
Jonas
Daniel says:
March 27th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Hi everyone at JP101!
I just recently started listening. But since it’s spring break (I teach at Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages), I’ve listened to a whole bunch of lessons.
Natsuko & Sakura, you have such lovely voices! And cute giggles too. Peter, keep working on your English pronunciation!
Daniel
Wayne says:
March 27th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
On one previous trip to Japan, I brought along some old 10000 yen notes that I had from before. These were the old large bills that are no longer used today. Anyway, we went to Kyoto and I tried to use it to get into a temple and the cashier refused to accept it. He thought it was fake money. After a brief exchange, he finally called his superior, who was an older man, who looked at it and OK’d it.
The next night we had dinner at a quiet restaurant in Pontocho. When came time to pay, I handed the cashier my old note and she let out a big scream! She held up the note for all to see and started jumping around showing everybody the note. It was quite embarassing for me so after that night, though I was tempted, I never used my old notes again. 
Wayne
jay says:
March 27th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
haha Jonas!
Yes it does sound annoying.
In nz we got rid of 1c and 2c coins about 1980-something, and soon we are even getting rid of 5c coins!
I can’t believe in japan they even have prices like 687 yen or something
Also, how widespread are bankcard type things there? Credit cards sure, but do they have like .. here we call them eftpos cards.. um.. direct debit cards?
just wondering as cash is dangerous in my hands
Jonas says:
March 27th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
jay-san; Good for you guys! My new computer cost me 150,000… thats yen… not $, hehe. Numbers get big really quick. 
Credit cards etc, they do use them. Most big stores and restaurants accept them, and you can withdraw money at the post office or Citi Bank. But small shops are cash only… So always keep cash with you!
I use my norwegian debit card here, so they should give you no problem
Jonas
Daniel says:
March 27th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Jay,
Recently more and more shops are accepting electronic money. There hasn’t been so much an increase in credit cards, but now with Eddy & Suica (the latter is the electronic train pass), you can go fairly cashless. Those two cards function as debit cards.
I don’t think it’ll be long before you can use debit cards at most shops, at least in the big city.
Daniel
nongton says:
March 27th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
Hi 
I try to count how many coins used in my country. Amazing Thailand! up to six coins are used, 10 baht, 5 baht, 2 baht (rearly found), 1 baht, 50 stang and 25 stang. That ’s why my wallet is very heavy since I know I dont have much money.
Richard says:
March 27th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Daniel-san,
In January 2006, JR East started the Mobile SUICA service that allows people to use wallet phones as train tickets.
http://ubiks.net/local/blog/jmt/archives3/004842.html
I wish we had that here in the USA. I always have my mobile phone, why should i need to carry a credit card when a mobile wallet will do the trick. PayPal just released a mobile version of their software too for the USA.
Richard
San Francisco
RobGillon says:
March 27th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
Peter-san - In the UK, at least where I’m living, the banks are open from 9am until 5pm (6pm in the bigger cities) Monday-Friday and from 9am until midday on Saturday. But most banks (not to mention… well… everywhere!) has ATMs so getting money is no problem, and I very rarely go to the bank, except when depositing coins. Some people like to spend smaller coins as they go, but I collect 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p coins until I have enough to deposit into my bank account (£1’s worth of 1 or 2p’s and £5 worth of 5 or 10p’s), I find it’s easier that way!
I have heard that exchanging US currency in Japan can be a nightmare! Like Richard said, I have already exchanged £250 worth into yen (50,000), and then I’ll just use the ATM’s at post offices, citibanks etc. Is this option not available for US citizens?
Daniel says:
March 28th, 2006 at 12:57 am
Rob,
Oh yeah, I remember that Peter had said that about banks in America closing at 3 like in Japan. But, when I was in uni (graduated in ‘92), banks first started staying open to 5, and then later to 6, and also began opening on Saturdays until 3.
I remember being so frustrated here when I first came to Japan (again, in ‘92), and even the ATMs were not accessible after 5. Only recently, are they open later and on weekends.
Daniel
Daniel says:
March 28th, 2006 at 1:02 am
Richard,
Yeah, they have the phone SUICA. Only, in the article, they don’t tell you that you have to upgrade to a new model phone. If you are willing to pay for my upgrade, I’ll be glad to get one, check it out, and post a review for you.
Daniel
steve says:
March 28th, 2006 at 4:20 am
In the UK. The banks open at 9:00am until 5:00pm Monday to Friday and from 9:00am until 12:00pm or until 1:00pm depending on the bank
Hugo says:
March 28th, 2006 at 4:49 am
In Argentina. The banks usually works to 8:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. But only a few works in the afternoon.
¡Wow! 100 podcast! The time runs fast
I´am ready for the party!
Peter says:
March 28th, 2006 at 5:31 am
Hugo-san, thanks for the update from Argentina!! I’ll be sure to go in the morning when I visit.
Steve-san and Rob-san, thanks for the update on what’s going on in the U.K.
Daniel-san, has it been that long! Last time I was home I still remember showing up at the bank at 3:05 and not being able to get cash. I ll be looking into that. Maybe my bank just doesn’t like me.
Nongton-san, thanks for the Thai update!
Nathan says:
March 28th, 2006 at 5:44 am
I think it really depends on where in America. The bank in the small town that I grew up in still closes at around 3pm. However, in Austin, you can find banks that are open until at least 6pm.
Nathan says:
March 28th, 2006 at 6:05 am
Oh I know that, I was really just touching on the general America before we had narrowed things down to Peter-san. Sleep deprivation pushes my focus back a few posts
Peter says:
March 28th, 2006 at 6:28 am
Daniel-san, NY is quite big! And I tend to go with banks that accept deposits in coins, cans, and anything else metallic.
Daniel says:
March 28th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Peterさん、
Oh, so when you were still in NY, they had moved on from rocks to coins.
Daniel
Sunena says:
March 28th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Guys!
U are making me and my husband fight over the i pod I guess time to buy second
Nathan says:
March 29th, 2006 at 12:58 am
Sunena-san,
Maybe you could get one of the FM receiver add-ons and you and your husband could listen and study together
jhjeong80 says:
May 1st, 2008 at 10:07 am
Awesome!! this chapter!!
I can exchange Korean won to Japanese yen now.
arigato sensei
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Category: Survival Phrases |
Function: exchanging money | Topic: bank, travel | Politeness Level: Polite
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