What is the best way to change Japanese yen to US dollars from Japan? -

The money is currently in a Japanese bank account. Obviously a one-on-one straight trade is best (no commissions, etc,) but I don t know anybody who wants to trade thousands of dollars for Japanese yen. Are there any web services that put people coming from the US to Japan in touch with people making the reverse trip? What are the other least expensive options? Wire transferring from banks is darn costly....

Go to your local bank and request that your jap account be transferred to USA account. no fees no comm, but a new a/c for you, in US$.

couldn t you use them at those travelers check places? or the airports should have a place to change/exchange currency

If I remember correctly, when I came back from Japan with over $20,000 (in yen), I took it to the post office to change. The post office gave me the best exchange rate. They gave it to me in bonds which were sent to my american address by post, which I then deposited in my bank account.

If you have a credit card attached to your Japanese bank account, I think that paypal is probably the best option. I m gonna move back to the states too, so I ve been trying to figure this out. I don t have a credit card, so I can t use paypal. www.xe.com seems like a pretty good way to send money. If you ask for payment in America by draft (whatever that means), it s free, and a wire transfer is 1700 yen. But, you still have to wire money from your Japanese bank account to their system. I think the advantage is that you would be wiring yen only, not converting the money to dollars and then wiring dollars, so the fee would be less. And when they get your yen and convert it to dollars, I think it s at a better rate. But in any case you should check out the site and see if it makes more sense to you than it does to me. www.xe.com Other than that, I think the post office only charges 2000 yen to transfer money overseas from a post office account. Dunno for sure though. Don t take my word for it.

You don t need a wire transfer. The bank is probably the best deal overall; they could do an ACH transfer to a US account, or cut a cashier s check in dollars. Anybody else is likely to charge more of a premium.

Yeah, I totally understand what you are saying. Banks and other official institutions really get you on all those different fees. The best thing I can recommend is to contact companies that handle Japanese homestay students, see if they can recommend you to students going to the US. Then, you can do it straight. If you get a few people to deal with, you can get your quot;Thousandsquot; exchanged. Of course, you will have to come to Japan, or wait until the people get to the US to get your money, because if you do it through a bank, again, fees become a problem. Then, there is the trust issue. If you are willing to use an eskrow service to hold the funds, that would be a good idea. Good luck.

Go here. Not the most accurate, but it s easy to find out if the Yen is going up or down.