How to send yen from dollars?

October 16, 2006 12:42 PM

I'm looking for a way to send, from the U.S. to Japan, money in denominations of yen. The merchant wants a money order in yen, which rules out Paypal. Do you know of a web-based or brick and mortar business that will take my payment in dollars, convert it into yen, and ship out a money order or give me a money order to ship?
posted by jeffmshaw to work & money (11 comments total)

FYI, my bank wouldn't do this. If yours will, please let me know.
posted by jeffmshaw at 12:44 PM on October 16, 2006

How about a postal money order? You can also send wires from some banks (and direct deposit is very common in Japan) but I think you'll find that's pretty expensive to arrange.
posted by spacewrench at 12:48 PM on October 16, 2006

Yes, a postal money order will convert to the local currency at the current prevailing exchange rate.
posted by luriete at 12:57 PM on October 16, 2006

An inexact answer, but I'd check around my local China/Korea/Asiatown if nobody here can give you an answer. They're more likely to have such services at reasonable rates.
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 12:59 PM on October 16, 2006

Western Union has branches in Japan.
posted by lia at 1:09 PM on October 16, 2006

Chase will do this for a $30 fee. I needed to have a money order in Euros to send to Ireland.
posted by Not in my backyard at 1:17 PM on October 16, 2006

There are money exchange outfits that will sell you a bank draft denominated in Yen. You'll have to wire them the funds or pay with postal money orders or a cashier's check, and it'll take a few days, but they'll then fedex you a draft. I did this a few years back to send $AUS to Australia, but unfortunately I don't have the link anymore.
posted by Calloused_Foot at 1:18 PM on October 16, 2006

The foreign exchange service at xe.com is a solid and reputable route. They do support the yen among their currencies, and can snail mail a draft (a corperate check) to any recipient you choose. Oh, and it's free; xe.com makes its profit from the actual sale of foreign currency (to be clearer, the sell price is always higher than the actual exchange rate, no matter what route you choose to do the exchange).
posted by ohcanireally at 1:45 PM on October 16, 2006

Amex agents can do it too, for a fee of course. I think it cost me $20-$30 on top of the cost of the $100 AUS check about 3 years ago.
posted by langeNU at 2:25 PM on October 16, 2006

Bank of America will do this for account holders for about $20. It is called a foreign draft. It takes a couple of days to get the draft mailed to you, then you send it out as you will. You must know the name of the payee (who it's written to) when you request it.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:27 PM on October 16, 2006

HSBC will let you do a yen wire transfer. They will also let you get a yen account if you're going to need to do this often. Any bank which does SWIFT should also be able to do the same (you might want to specifically ask about SWIFT).
posted by mock at 5:06 PM on October 16, 2006