Originally Posted by
Pickles
Having dealt with dozens of personal F/X transactions for JPY/USD as a way of getting money from Japan to the US, I can categorically state that the TC F/X rate is the best all-in rate (including fees and spreads) of all the other alternatives, including ATMs, credit cards, and even wire transfers.
If you are moving more than a few thousand dollars at once, you can save some money by using a wire transfer. Compare the 2 yen spread on T/C rates at NRT
http://www.narita-airport.or.jp/exchange/index.html
with the 1 yen spread on wire transfers for ordinary customers at Shinsei:
http://sre.shinseibank.com/InterestRateB/FXRate.aspx
If you keep a balance of 20 million yen (Platinum status), you get a fee-free wire out every month at an amazing spread of 50 sen. Otherwise the fee is 4,000 yen -- most other Japanese banks charge 6,000, while the rich-....... account packages at HSBC and Citi offer nominally fee-free transfers but rip you off with the exchange rate.
So my technique is to build up cash in a Shinsei account and wire it over to E-Trade when it's at a good critical mass and when the exchange rates seem good.