When I arrived, I visited and investigated several Banks here. All required that I be in Japan for at least 6 months before they would open an account for me. I’m not exactly sure why this is, but like many things, I’m learning it’s the way they do business here.
I was finally able to open an account with one that did not have this requirement.
The opening was fairly simple, with the exception, again of my not understanding Japanese, but the people at the bank were patient with me, and somehow, we navigated through the process.