どのようににか: 銀行口座を開きなさい (How To: Open A Bank Account)
Now that I'm a real deal Okinawa resident and have a valid visa and gaijin card, it's time to take care of some important things. Like getting a bank account! Why is having a bank account so damn important anyway, you may ask yourself. Well, good question dear reader! Like in the United States, a bank is a good place to store your money when you're not off spending it on sushi or snack girls. However, having a bank account has even more important uses than that. While back home you have a choice between getting paid via paycheck or being paid via direct deposit, in Japan direct deposit is like the ultra preferred defacto way of getting your money after a hard months work of work. In fact, I don't think people even get paid via paycheck here. My last two months of work I've been paid with cold hard yen in an envelope, so that makes me wonder. Besides that, most of your bills are also taken out of your bank account automatically when you have one. Otherwise motherfuckers won't give you shit. However, I did find out recently that you can get a cell phone without having a bank account so their may be other exceptions like that.
I finally set out on getting a bank account of my own last week with my Japanese English speaking co-worker. I decided I'd open my account with Ryukyu Gingko (Bank of the Ryukyus) since all the cool kids did it and it's the largest bank on the island. I was excited...feeling kind of good...probably had a little extra pep in my step. But all that changed when we got to the bank. Deeeeniiiiiieeeed. They said that I needed to be in the country for at least six months before I could open a bank account. But, I had been in the country for six months last time I checked...Sike. While I did officially come to Japan in November, my gaijin card states that I actually came in January (when we got back from Thailand). So, according to the government I've only been here 4 months. Either way it didn't make any sense to me. 1) why would I have to be in the country for 6 months to open an account anyway? and 2) how in the world did all the JETs open accounts with Ryukyu Gingko after being in the country for a week?
Listen up kids! This is something you need to know when it comes to Japan. There are many many rules, but rules, like they say, are made to be broken. You just have to find the right person willing to break them for you. The reason all those JETs got bank accounts is simple: when one person wouldn't break the rules, they found someone who would. Whether that meant going back another day and dealing with a different set of people, or getting their supervisors to be mega pushy and force people to do shit, that's how you have to get things done around here sometimes. And if that fails you sometimes have to go to a different branch altogether to find some rule breakers. I may have been denied this time, but I won't be denied again. Ganbatte! Fighto!!!! Yeah, come hell or high water I'm going to have my money in a damn bank somewhere.