Cashing/depositing US stimulus check in Japan

Hi everyone,

US citizen living in Japan for 4 years now, no plans of going back especially with corona virus. A few days ago I received my first stimulus check. the thing is I don't know what to do with it!

Me and my wife (Japanese national) closed all our US bank accounts when we moved here. I have two Japanese accounts (JPpost and Shinsei bank) but they don't accept US checks from what i have read. I have read some people used /opened an account with SMBC but does anyone have any experience with them in regards to cashing the check and what their fees are? I've ready everything from 1000yen to 2000yen a month fee for anything under 2000 to 5000USD. I'm on a spouse visa so I don't think opening a account should be a problem right?

Thanks-

Are you talking about the Economic Impact Payments? "Prestia" SMBC Trust Banking seems to be able to handle it for you. Here is the procedures in Japanese:
https://www.smbctb.co.jp/news/2020/pdf/news_052620_01.pdf

Collecting a foreign check - fee of about 5,000 yen. Also there will be account maintenance fee of 2,000 yen per month they say, unless you keep a certain balance. This bank used to be CitiBank Japan, then bought by SMBC.

You might want to check with other non-Japanese banks (meaning they might have more resources about handling checks) too.

If you know someone who can get you into a US military base, the banks there should be able to cash the checks for free immediately, even for non account holders. That's what I plan to do after I get all my checks.

For Shinsei, I assume you have the multi-currency options on the account, which is great for electronic transfers, but would be more difficult for foreign cash or a cheque in your case. Have you tried the online chat service (or calling them as they offer English assistance) to confirm.

Shinsei refused to cash it and said they no longer take checks of any kind.