Best way to pay debts from overseas in Japan?

I'm moving to Japan in two weeks and I still have debts to pay in America. Thus, I need to be able to send money overseas. I know there are a number of ways to do this and I looked over this article as to what those ways are. I have my payments set up on a monthly plan and for automatic withdrawal on a specified date. Currently, the monthly payments cumulatively add up to several hundred dollars.

Based on my apparent options, I was planning on using PayPal (it seems like it would be the cheapest; after talking with PayPal it sounds like the fee for transferring money would be 3.9% of the amount I am transferring plus 30 cents). However, I read at the end of the article that I'm not able to transfer money from a Japanese bank account to a Japanese PayPal account:
"In other words, Paypal in Japan currently can't be used to remit funds overseas from your Japanese bank account. You can, however, link a credit card to the account (it doesn't have to be a Japanese credit card, but it does need a Japan-based billing address)." The last part of this "doesn't make as much sense to me: does this mean that I need to use a credit card connected to my bank account in Japan to transfer money to my Japanese PayPal account?

Somebody in the comments for in the aforementioned article also mentioned traveler's checks being a good way to send money overseas. Any thoughts or opinions on this?

In any case, I am looking for more direct advice concerning my situation. I'd especially like to hear from people who have been in a similar situation to mine and what they've done. Any advice or thoughts?

If you can avoid making frequent small remittances, I think you'll find that making an ordinary transfer from your Japanese bank account to your US bank account is only slightly more expensive than trying to do it some more exotic way.

To be more specific, an ordinary bank transfer costs about 5000 - 6000 yen. The exchange rate offered should be very close to the interbank rate used for that day, which is much cheaper than, for example, PayPal, and cheaper than the rate you will get at one of the currency exchange windows at the airport. The money generally hits your account on the next business day (at least, it does in my case, your mileage may vary). The drawback is that you have to go to the physical branch to do this, although I think more places are starting to offer online overseas remittance services.

The Japan Post bank transfer seems like an even cheaper option, but I have not used this myself.

I`ve used the Japan Post International Payment system twice to send funds to the UK.
I paid in CASH over the counter, filled in the form (took about 10 minutes the first time) and the funds were in my UK account 3 working days later ... although they advised me it could take up to 10 days!
There is a flat fee of 2,500 yen and the exchange rate was good. Obviously try to make the transfers larger and less frequently to reduce costs.

As it looks like you will be transferring funds to the same account, ask them to print out and post to you, pre-filled forms with all the relevant details on it, it will save you time. They can supply 10 of these forms at any one time.

As mentioned above, avoid paypal's fees and less favorable exchange rates. (along with trying to use a credit card for this) Bank transfers are best. (I haven't used Japan Post, but have heard it's good, and also good for smaller amounts.)

For bank-to-bank transfers, I normally use Shinsei, but have used MUFJ a couple times in the distant past. Since it has been a while, I don't recall for MUFJ, but Shinsei seems to have a good link to the account that I send to (a major brokerage), i.e., there are no extra fees along the way.

Sometimes for these transfers, besides the upfront fee, some intermediary bank (or your receiving bank) will nick you for another $20-$25. You might want to check with your target US bank if they assess such a fee on incoming wire transfers. This could make a difference if you're cutting it close when paying bills. To be safe, at least until you know the system's charges for the routing and banks you are using, you should send maybe $40 extra--if you need $2000 in your account, send $2040.

With Shinsei, you have to do the first transfer in person, but there's a check box on the transfer form allowing you to register that receiving bank with them (given that you have an account with them here). Then, subsequent transfers to that same account can be done by phone. (I think you can only register one target account with them.)

In my experience, it usually takes two days, give or take. As with domestic transfers, if you put the order in later in the day it takes an extra day to process.

Finally, my Shinsei balance is generally high enough that they give me one free overseas transfer per month. But while it could have gone up, I think their fee is 4000 yen for an inter-bank transfer.

If you still have a U.S. account, send checks from Japan tapping into it. Refill the U.S. account as needed.

Glenski said:

If you still have a U.S. account, send checks from Japan tapping into it. Refill the U.S. account as needed.

Click to expand...

To the OP: I think if that were expressed in more detail, it would be, "If you still have a US account (which you do), send personal checks drawn on that account to pay bills in the US. Refill the US acct by one of the above-mentioned methods as needed."

However, since you said in your original post that it was all on auto-pay, i.e., automatic deductions, you don't need to be sending checks from Japan. Your only concern is how to refill your US account, and I think that several alternatives for that have already been offered, above.