Thanks for the responses. Which from experience would you all suggest is the best bank for Japan->US transfers? Also, what about ATM access? Do certain banks charge service fees for using an ATM that isn't theirs?
The biggest PIA approach but which bears no cost is maintaining a certain balance at Citi, getting free T/Cs and sending them for deposit to your US account via the post then transferring the funds to whoever in the US you need to pay.
The way I do it though is just pay US bills with my Japanese credit card. There are no fees fr overseas payments as it seems US cards incur and the TTM is the rate used.