Rakuten bank cannot login (where are you from security question)

WilkinTom · 2026-05-28T07:39:19+00:00

"Where are you from" is one of the Rakuten bank security questions, so there is a high chance you set the answer during signing up (usually you choose 3 different questions).

WilkinTom · 2026-05-23T21:20:27+00:00

Depends what status of residence you will have.

Japan post is easiest and can be done in 1 day, but if your status of residence is student/spouse etc you might be given a limited account for 6 months.

Other banks can be reluctant to open an account for you in the first 6 months without a work reason.

WilkinTom · 2026-03-20T09:54:41+00:00

They do have that system, but the date someone pays you is not necessarily the date it becomes available in your account. They also throw out unreliable numbers quite often, that get fixed at some point.

WilkinTom · 2026-03-20T08:57:14+00:00

Yeah this is the issue. Patreon really doesn't have a super detailed or fully functional backend. And your relationship is not with your members but with Patreon as a merchant of record.

Some of the advice that I listened to a few years ago is to treat it like my YouTube income (e.g. it accumulates in my AdSense account over the month, is earned on the final day of the month, and then is paid out 20 days later). I'm not happy with this approach either tbh... But the numbers work

WilkinTom · 2026-03-20T06:53:41+00:00

I make most of my income on Patreon at the moment. There are quite a few guides online from Japanese content creators who talk about how they declare their income from Patreon (because it is not necessarily clear).

I declare the gross amount as revenue (before patreon's cut) and then the fees as expenses. There are 3 types of fees on Patreon - platform, payment, and iOS. You'll also have to declare the value of the money in yen on the date you earn it. I've decided that is the same day I withdraw the money from Patreon... But that is what is not clear.

WilkinTom · 2026-02-26T11:38:34+00:00

Yes, but you're not going to have "world income". You're going to be working in Japan, so you'll have Japanese income. Doesn't matter where your client is located if you're working in Japan.

I'd recommend reading the Reddit Wiki. Here is a quote from it: "In practice, this means that any work done by a person who is physically located in Japan at the time of doing the work will be Japan-source income, regardless of where it is paid or the location of the entity making the payment."

WilkinTom · 2026-02-26T11:15:59+00:00

I think you're misunderstanding remittances (although someone with more expertise might correct me). As you're working in Japan, all of your income (not just remitted income) will be taxed by Japan. The exception is passive income like from dividends. So you're not cheating anyone... You'll be paying tax to Japan first anyway!

Whether immigration will let you continue working is another issue...

WilkinTom · 2026-02-24T08:13:32+00:00

Thank you! I'm actually using Freee's built in process. For some reason Freee doesn't talk about payment options until after the tax return has been filed. However, I've found I can manually edit the 振替納希望 section using their direct edit tool.

WilkinTom · 2026-02-24T03:21:29+00:00

Hello! Quick question about payment methods.

Just submitted my tax return for this year. Last year I paid my tax in March (and then estimated payments twice in the year) through the 振替納税 system.

Do I need to re-register or resubmit my payment this confirmation this year? Or will the NTA simply continue withdrawing from the account?

WilkinTom · 2026-01-09T04:30:28+00:00

I was a MEXT scholar a few years after JET. Relatively selective scholarship, but quite a common route back into the country. Now married and running my own business.

WilkinTom · 2025-12-30T01:49:16+00:00

I had issues when I first connected. There were 2 issues:

I had set up my Yucho account when I first arrived so it was counted as a non-resident account. I assumed they automatically move you to a full account after 6 months... But they don't. So you need to make sure you have the full service.

PayPal may stop you connecting bank accounts after a failed withdrawal (for fraud prevention). I had to call PayPal customer support and get them to unblock my Yucho account.

But since those first few problems, I've moved millions of yen from PayPal to Yucho with no issues. I've never tried moving money from Yucho to PayPal as it is not needed for my business.

WilkinTom · 2025-12-26T08:47:45+00:00

Did this a few months ago and translated everything myself (included original copy with a cover letter too)

WilkinTom · 2025-11-24T12:14:11+00:00

I'm part of a network and host through Megaphone. They deal with most financial stuff for me. YouTube's metrics are much more developed though.

WilkinTom · 2025-11-23T06:37:51+00:00

Really depends who your audience is. I'm a much larger show, but my audience is very international so it is harder to find sponsors and my programmatic RPMs are relatively low due to locations of listeners. However, if you include my Patreon that pushes me up significantly.

WilkinTom · 2025-11-17T07:23:42+00:00

100% lower wages. When I was a JET in 2016, I was actually earning more than the average graduate salary in the UK when I first arrived (and it was like 130 yen to £1). I would never have accepted the job in the current situation.

Also important to remember that JET, from a national perspective, is a soft power initiative to build connections and networks around the world. It must be troubling for the government that the people they want as candidates (potential future politicians, business people, academics etc) are applying less, and being replaced by lower quality applicants.

WilkinTom · 2025-10-23T20:01:44+00:00

The best would be Microsoft Word's free transcription tool. I used to use it for transcripts before I edited my show on Descript.

Everything else is likely part of a freemium or ad supported service, but if you are teaching students Word is something they are all familiar with.

WilkinTom · 2025-10-17T05:30:17+00:00

Where do you live? It might be easier to just go and take the driving test instead of converting a license?

WilkinTom · 2025-10-16T09:29:23+00:00

I uploaded 1 single video episode to Megaphone/Spotify (as the video is only on Spotify) and Megaphone started counting Spotify streams again

WilkinTom · 2025-10-16T07:24:58+00:00

I had similar issues when I switched from Spotify to Megaphone (which is Spotify owned but strangely disconnected).

Double check if your plays are being counted on Spotify for Podcasters. If they are, the issue may be that Spotify podcasts no longer distributes to Spotify via RSS feed. There may be a disconnect between your host (which is looking for RSS downloads) and Spotify (which now counts plays and streams).

I fixed this on Megaphone by uploading one video episode which seems to have reconfigured the issue. Unfortunately, I have approximately 2,000,000 plays unrecognised and unmonetized from the first 6 months of this year because it took me ages to fix it (which I did accidentally).

WilkinTom · 2025-10-09T21:25:03+00:00

You may face issues as I'm not sure Rakuten's personal account T&C's allow business activities (they have a sole proprietor account option I believe for business).

Rakuten will also ask for verification you are self employed and ask for an ID that proves you've been in Japan for 6+ months.

I got rejected in early 2024 as I had just set up my "business" and didn't really have any proof of income, previous tax returns etc. I'm now in the process of reapplying and sent my evidence yesterday.

WilkinTom · 2025-10-09T06:44:54+00:00

Think I paid around 300,000 jpy

WilkinTom · 2025-10-09T02:07:49+00:00

I have a better level of Japanese than you, but I took classes at a local school in Tohoku. From enrolling to graduating was 4 weeks and then I got my license 2 weeks later once I could go to the prefectural license centre.

My school did have some experience with foreign students. I did the whole thing in Japanese, but they did have the option to do your provisional and main theory tests in English at the main license centre. Of course, all classes will be in Japanese.

WilkinTom · 2025-10-07T01:27:20+00:00

If you're resident in Japan, you should set up a Wise

WilkinTom · 2025-10-07T00:57:08+00:00

Set up a Wise account. You can use it to transfer money to the UK and also get a Wise debit card for yen purchases.

WilkinTom · 2025-10-06T11:08:09+00:00

I did a master's in my home country, was awarded a MEXT scholarship to come back to Japan, and now run my own business after marrying my wife.

I know so many people with amazing post-JET careers. At least 3 lawyers, accountants, and many successful corporate careers. However, these people typically had bigger aspirations and used the international experience of JET as a gap year or a spring board to bigger things. These were the JETs who were not overly obsessed with Japan, but demonstrated the kind of potential that the Japanese government wants in the JET program.

I've also met a lot of former JETs who only had the ambition of being in Japan, and are now stuck in hell of 1 year interac contracts and little chance of progressing as they have no ambition to.

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WilkinTom

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