Transferring Student loan

I'm planning on attending a university in Japan, and with the falling dollar think it best to keep my assets in Yen. Does anyone recommend any banks that are English-user friendly and allow accounts to be set up online. Are there any sites that make predictions about the yen-dollar ratio that would help me best gauge when to make the conversion.

Also, does anyone know the legalities and technicalities of maintaining financial assets in a currency with more potential (say the yuan) in a Japanese account (maybe something that can be done online and not require any trips to china).

I hope I'm not unconsciously planning money londering.

Shinsei Bank is probably what you are looking for, although Citibank would also fit the bill.

www.shinseibank.com/english/

Shinsei also has foreign currency accounts and term deposits that you can choose to put your money into- these are in currencies like Hong Kong dollar, Singapore dollar, UK pound, Euro, Australian dollar etc. Some of them get considerably better interest than the standard yen account (0.1%) but you may lose out on currency fluctuations.

Incidentally you will need to be in Japan, with a valid visa and an alien registration card in order to set up an account with Shinsei or any Japanese bank. You can order a "starter pack" online from Shinsei but then must send the forms back by post.

I have heard that in the US you can set up bank accounts completely online but this is not possible in Japan as far as I know, particularly for foreigners who need to prove their legal right to be living in Japan first.

There may be sites around that make predictions as to what currencies will do but they would be educated guesses at best- it's like the stockmarket, anyone who found a way to accurately predict what will happen would make a fortune. You have to take your chances.

Why are you looking at the yuan in particular to keep your money in? I would guess that its use outside China is quite restricted and that it is very difficult for non-Chinese residents to set up accounts in China. It is not one of the options offered by Shinsei as it's probably not able to be traded in the same way as the "hard" currencies.