Living in Japan inevitably involves making purchases and spending money, which brings up the question of how to convert cryptocurrency into Japanese yen or directly into goods and services.

Although Japan is among the most crypto-friendly countries and was one of the first to regulate exchanges, there are still startup projects in this area, but the general public hasn't advanced to the point where Bitcoin is accepted everywhere.

This article lists methods I've personally found effective for spending cryptocurrency in Japan.

Selling on Exchanges

  • Convenience: ⭐️⭐️☆☆☆
  • Difficulty: ⭐️⭐️☆☆☆
  • Prerequisites:
    • Long-term residence status in Japan
    • A Japanese bank account under the same name
    • Account setup at at least one Japanese exchange
    • Bank account linked after passing KYC on the exchange
  • You will receive:
    • Cash in your Japanese bank account

There are many exchanges in Japan, such as bitFlyer, Coincheck, Bitbank, etc. Foreigners living in Japan long-term (not on a tourist visa) can also open accounts. The materials required for account opening are not difficult; a residence card or other equivalent document is sufficient for KYC.

Like with other exchanges, after transferring cryptocurrency to the designated deposit address, you can trade it for yen and withdraw it to your bank account.

It's important to note that the bank account must be under the same name as used for KYC on the exchange. This is crucial for foreigners in Japan who often use katakana for their names. If your bank account is registered with katakana, then your exchange KYC should also use katakana. If your bank registration uses kanji or roman letters, then KYC must use the corresponding name format. In short, the two must match, or you may encounter withdrawal issues.

There's not much to say about the withdrawal process itself, as it includes all the necessary risk controls, and the bank processing takes a few days.

Pros and Cons

The biggest hassle of this method is going through the traditional financial system, but its greatest advantage is also that it goes through the traditional financial system, allowing you to eventually get yen.

Giftcard.bz

  • Convenience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
  • Difficulty: ⭐️☆☆☆☆
  • Prerequisites:
    • A Japanese Amazon account (for online spending)
    • An auPAY account (for offline spending)
  • You will receive:
    • Amazon gift cards or auPAY gift cards

Japan is a country where points, gift cards, and vouchers are especially popular. You can see many places selling second-hand gift cards (中古商品券/ギフトカード) on the streets.

The presence of buyers and sellers indicates high demand—indeed, this is the case. Therefore, many places online sell various vouchers, such as the well-known Bitrefill. But I want to introduce Giftcard.bz https://giftcard.bz, a site specializing in Japanese Amazon gift cards and auPAY gift cards.

The buying experience on Giftcard.bz is particularly good:

  1. Other websites generally require you to pay more, but here the exchange rate is 1:1. There are also extra discounts, such as a 10,000 yen card available for just over 9,800 yen worth of USDT.
  2. There are many payment channels to choose from, allowing for cheaper gas fees and faster chains, like Tron and Polygon.
  3. There's a wide selection of cryptocurrencies for payment, saving the hassle of exchanging currencies.

After a successful purchase, you can copy the gift card code you bought from the "Order History" to top up. For offline spending, although only auPAY can be used, its coverage is quite good. So far, I've tested it in all convenience stores, taxis, some supermarkets, some restaurants, and for paying electricity and gas bills.

Pros and Cons

I think the biggest advantage of Giftcard.bz is almost no friction loss, and it's very fast and convenient.

The disadvantages are also quite obvious:

  1. You can only spend, not withdraw cash.
  2. Online spending is limited to Japanese Amazon.
  3. auPAY registration requires a Japanese phone number and KYC.

auPAY Prepay Card

  • Convenience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆
  • Difficulty: ⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆
  • Prerequisites:
    • An auPAY account
  • You will receive:
    • One auPAY physical card

Since we mentioned auPAY, let's also talk about the auPAY Prepay Card (auPAYプリペイドカード).

This card comes as an accessory after opening an account with auじぶん銀行.

After registering for auPAY, you can see an option to link your auじぶん銀行 account in the auPAY app. If the connection is successful, they will send you a physical Mastercard channel prepaid card.

Pros and Cons

This prepaid card is linked to your auPAY balance. Compared to the software version of auPAY, its advantage is that you can add it to Apple Wallet and directly swipe it offline, effectively expanding the usage scenarios of auPAY, allowing spending of auPAY balance in places that do not support auPAY.

There aren't any significant disadvantages, aside from needing to register for auPAY first and requiring a fixed Japanese address to receive the card.

Wise Card

  • Convenience: ⭐️⭐️⭐☆☆
  • Difficulty: ⭐️⭐️☆☆☆
  • Prerequisites:
    • A Wise account
  • You will receive:
    • One Wise physical card

Before using Wise, it's important to note that if you had a Wise account in your home country, it's best to delete it and register a new one upon arriving in Japan.

This is because Wise, like Paypal, requires KYC in your country of long-term residence. The method to delete is to click the top left corner in the App, select "Settings → Close account". After re-registering and passing KYC, you can apply for a physical card in the second tab.

Pros and Cons

The Wise Card has two advantages: one, it allows withdrawals and bank transfers. Two, it can create multiple virtual cards, each with a different card number, which can protect your privacy and financial security better.

However, there are two disadvantages: one, the Wise Card can only be used for small amounts, and the Wise account has a one million yen limit. Two, Wise itself cannot directly handle cryptocurrency withdrawals. You need to withdraw to a bank account first, such as in the US or Singapore, and then transfer to Wise via ACH or bank transfer, before you can spend or withdraw yen in Japan. The process is somewhat lengthy.

Registering for Wise

By the way, if you haven't registered for Wise yet, consider using my invitation link: https://wise.com/invite/i/nra7iyr This way, both you and I can save on some transfer fees.

OneKey Card

  • Convenience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐☆
  • Difficulty: ⭐️☆☆☆☆
  • Prerequisites:
    • A Google account
  • You will receive:
    • One Visa virtual card

The OneKey card has recently become one of my favorites.

Although it's a virtual card, it works very well online. I've used it to purchase domain names, pay OpenAI bills, pay VPS bills, renew Github Pro, place orders on Lululemon, and many other online spending scenarios, both large and small amounts.

The official website experience is also very good, and there's no need to install an extra app; just log in with a Google account. Currently, the only recharge option is USDC.

Like other virtual cards, OneKey Card charges a fee upon recharge. The default silver card has a 1.95% fee, while upgrading to a black card reduces it to 1.5%. It's roughly the same as OTC rates.

Pros and Cons

I think its biggest advantage is its broad applicability. In many online scenarios, especially if the payment route isn't in yen, using it might be better.

The disadvantage is there's at least a 1.5% recharge fee, and there's no physical card.

Registering for OneKey Card

By the way, if you haven't registered for OneKey Card yet, consider using my invitation link: https://card.onekey.so/?i=3EGFML This way, I can get some cashback. Thank you (`▽´)ﾉ