There will be a variety of reasons that you will need to transfer or send money to a 3rd party, like a landlord or a friend that is difficult to meet. Although it might be more convenient to make this transfer from your account online, when you first arrive in Japan, you will likely not have a bank account set up yet.

This article will take you through the steps of how to pay a 3rd party using the ATMs at any Sumitomo Mitsui Bank of Commerce (SMBC) in Japanese. We have decided to use the cash method of payment as most people will likely be able to access cash while in Japan, so this method might be the most useful for our purposes.

What you need to bring

In order to do this, you will need to have the following pieces of information handy: ★ The amount of money to be transferred to payee, plus an additional 1000 so that you have more than enough to cover most applicable transaction fees. (Exact change not required) ★ Your name in either roman letters or Japanese characters (You will need to know how to write type this in the latter case) ★ Payee’s Bank Account information including:

• Which financial institution they below to
• City where branch is located You will need to type the first character of this in Katakana You will also need to be able to read the Kanji of the City
• Whether the payee’s bank account is a normal account or otherwise
• Payee account number
• Payee account name (for identification / confirmation purposes)

Process

• 1

  Starting screen. Click お振り込み (o-furikomi, digital money transfer)

• 2

  Confirmation page.

  1. Did a relative such as a child or grandchild ask you over the phone to make this payment? 2. Is the account holder someone that you don’t know, whom you are for the first time?

  
  Click the green button if the answer is NO, to proceed. If both apply, click あてはまる (yes, this applies), otherwise proceed by clicking the green button あてはまらない (no, this does not apply)

• 3

  Method of Payment. Select 現金 (genkin, cash)

• 4

  Type in Your Japanese Phone Number with hyphens.

• 5

  This screen prompts you to type in your Customer Number. As it is not required and assuming you don’t have one, click the blue button 次画面 (tsugi gamen, next screen).

• 6

  Enter the amount to be paid to the Payee.

• 7

  Enter YOUR NAME. To enter it in roman characters, click 英数字 (eisuugaku, English characters.

  Type in the name/identification that your Payee knows you by.

• 8

  Enter the Financial Institution of your Payee. If it is Mitsui Sumitomo, click the top option.

  
  (Please be careful of Bank Transfer Frauds or Scams)
• 9

  Type in the first character of the City of the Payee’s Branch. In this case, we are transferring to an account in Ginza, Tokyo, and so click キ (ki), the first character gi.

• 10

  Select the City of the Payee’s Branch from a list of options. If you don’t see it, try clicking つづき (tsudzuki, “continue”)

• 11

  When you have found it, click it.

• 12

  Enter the Account type of Payee. Options: 普通 (futsuu, “normal”), 当座 (touza, chequings), 貯蓄 (chochiku, savings) In most cases, it will be a normal account.

• 13

  Enter the Payee’s Account Number.

• 14

  Please wait…

• 15

  Final Confirmation. Please check all of the details below.

  Note: the bottom right figure,　手数料 (tesuuryou, “handling fee”)

  If everything is satisfactory, click 確認, the bottom right green button.

• 16

  Insert the appropriate amount using coins in the left receptacle and bills in the right receptacle as shown.

  If the amount is correct, click 確認, the bottom right green button.

• 17

  The money will be counted, your change given, and your receipt printed.

  This receipt is your final confirmation. Please keep this for your records, especially as you have not sent money through a bank account where a paper trail will be possible.

Congratulations! You have completed your transaction. We hope you found this article useful!