Receiving bank/money/wire transfers from overseas to Japanse banks has always been much more difficult than in western countries. The older banks, would even call you and ask you to explain what the money was for every transfer.
And it’s only gotten worse. Nowadays most banks even completely refuse to accept any overseas transfers (at least for individuals). Even Shinsei Bank which used to be a fairly modern bank and good for that.
Currently Sony Bank (ソニー銀行/Sony Ginkou) seems to best option for this.
When you receive money, you need to explain the source from a dropdown list through their online (Japanese only) banking system. If there is no problem, the funds are deposited onto your account on the next day or within a few days.
Otherwise you need to send them veridying documents.
First dropdown is “Relationship with the sender” or “送金人とのご関係”.
- 本人 (personal)
- 勤務先 (place of employment)
- 父
- 母
- 配偶者
- 子
- 知人
- 金融機関 (bank)
- その他企業
- その他
Or you can enter a “Specific relationship”.
具体的なご関係
全角32文字以内で入力してください。
Then you need to choose the “Purpose of remittance” or “送金目的”.
- 自己資金の移動 (personal)
- 投資、資産運用
- 生活資金
- 給与 (Salary)
- 年金
- 教育資金
- 不動産売却
- 商品販売代金
- レジャー
- その他
The common options are in bold.