How to cancel accounts/subscriptions?

Hi I am about to leave Japan for good in 3 months. I was wondering how does one go about cancelling bank accounts/ cell phone/internet and other such subscriptions. I especially would like to know about bank accounts. I mean if you have a large sum of money still in the bank, what happens? DO they give you all of it in cash?

Of course, they do. It's your money..

I think she meant something more to the tune of: do you get your bank account balance in cash or do they give it to you with a check, wire transfer, etc.?

Sorry, I don't have experience in closing a bank account but best option would be to simply ask your local branch. My gut tells me that they will indeed give you the money in cash but you may be able to wire transfer, etc. to your home account for an additional fee.

well, while Bean is right (yes, you indeed get the money in cash, by default), Tokyonet's answer was pretty accurate, too :-)

Not only is it your money, it's also your bank account. So, *naturally*, you can do things like transferring some/most/all of the money to your home account, before closing the Japanese one. Though the fees might be significant.

Canceling subscriptions is different for every provider and many make it annoying to do so.

Call each service first before wasting time going to the storefront.

For banks, you close your account at the branch where you opened the account.
You either take out in cash or transfer to an account in your home country.
If it is a large sum, keep in mind there are limits on the amount of cash you can carry during international travel so you may have to transfer via wire for amounts over $10k.

If you don't have any account to wire funds to, a last resort would be to open a Citibank account here as you would be able to access from your home country.

It's not that you're prohibited from carrying over 1 million yen (~$10,000) but you just have to declare it. I know America requires outbound travelers to declare over $10,000 but Japan may not have similar requirements. You better find out though if you plan to have over 1 million yen.

If it were me I would just wire the money back home.