Sending Money from Japan to Australia: A Practical JPY to AUD Guide

Sending JPY to an Australian bank account is one of the simpler remittance jobs — fast, well-supported, competitive on rates. That part takes ten minutes to sort out.

Rates and fees move faster than recommendations, so this article is best read as a decision guide with illustrative examples rather than a live price board.

What tends to catch Australians in Japan off guard is everything else: whether the ATO still considers you a tax resident, what is quietly happening inside your superannuation fund, and what you need to sort before heading home. For Working Holiday Visa holders, there is one more thing almost nobody mentions — the Japanese pension lump-sum refund you can claim when you leave.

This guide covers all of it.

Service Comparison

Wise

Wise uses the mid-market rate — the same rate shown on Google — and charges a transparent percentage fee upfront.

Typical fees for JPY→AUD (as of early 2026 — verify before transferring):

Approximately 0.4–0.7% of the transfer amount, no hidden spread on top

On a ¥300,000 transfer (roughly AUD 3,000), that is ¥1,200–¥2,100 in fees. The NPP (New Payments Platform) means most AUD deliveries arrive same-day or next business day.

Best for: Regular monthly transfers of any size. The default choice for most people.

Revolut

Competitive with Wise on weekday transfers. Two things to watch:

Weekend markup: 1% on weekend conversions — an extra ¥3,000 on a ¥300,000 transfer. Weekday transfers only.

Plan limits: Free Standard plan exchanges up to ¥300,000/month on weekdays with no extra fee; 0.5% applies above that. Premium and Metal plans remove the cap.

Best for: Existing paid-plan users transferring on weekdays.

Bank Wire (PRESTIA, MUFG, Japan Post Bank)

For large one-off transfers — property deposits, moving savings home — a SWIFT wire is the right choice. SMBC Trust Bank’s PRESTIA is the best option: English-language service, formal Overseas Remittance Records downloadable online, built for documentation needs.

Fees: ¥3,000–¥5,000 per transfer plus a spread above mid-market. Your Australian bank may also charge an incoming wire fee.

Best for: Large one-off transfers above ¥500,000, property transactions, formal bank documentation.

Rate Comparison at a Glance

Service	Effective cost on ¥300,000	Speed	Best for
Wise	~¥1,200–¥2,100 (0.4–0.7%)	Same day / next day	Regular transfers
Revolut (weekday)	~¥1,200–¥1,800	Hours	Paid-plan users, weekdays
Bank wire	¥3,000–¥5,000 + spread	2–3 business days	Large one-off, formal docs

Illustrative ranges. Verify current rates before transferring.

BSB format: Australian accounts use a 6-digit BSB (XXX-XXX) plus account number. Double-check the BSB before confirming any transfer — incorrect BSB codes are the most common cause of delayed AUD transfers.

Australian Tax Residency — Less Automatic Than You Think

Here is the question most Australians in Japan have never formally resolved: does the ATO still consider you a tax resident?

Unlike the UK’s Statutory Residence Test — which has a clear automatic non-residency condition if you spend fewer than 16 days in the UK — Australia has no equivalent simple day-count rule for citizens living abroad. Residency is determined by four tests, and the one that catches most people is the domicile test.

Under the domicile test, you remain an Australian tax resident if your domicile is in Australia unless the ATO is satisfied that your permanent place of abode is outside Australia. “Permanent place of abode” does not mean indefinite — but it does require a fixed and habitual home overseas, genuinely established. A rolling one-year lease in Tokyo while keeping a home, family, and most financial ties in Australia is not automatically sufficient.

What this means in practice:

Non-resident for Australian tax: The ATO generally taxes Australian-sourced income such as rental income. Some Australian investment income, such as interest, dividends, or royalties, may instead be dealt with through non-resident withholding rules rather than being declared in the same way. Your Japanese salary is outside Australian tax.
Still an Australian tax resident: The ATO taxes worldwide income including your Japanese salary. But the foreign income tax offset prevents double taxation — Japanese income tax paid offsets your Australian liability on the same income.

Sending money home does not create the liability. Your tax position was determined when you moved — not when you transfer.

Your Superannuation While You Are in Japan

Most Australians in Japan have at least one super account sitting somewhere. Here is what is actually happening to it.

Your balance keeps moving — in both directions

Your super fund continues to invest your balance and charge management fees regardless of where you live. In a growth phase, the fund grows. In a down year, it shrinks. The fees keep coming either way.

If you have multiple small accounts from previous employers, each one is paying its own fees. A balance of AUD 5,000 in a fund charging 1.5% annually loses AUD 75 per year in fees alone — before any market movement. Consolidating via the ATO’s myGov portal is free and takes about 15 minutes. Lost super from old jobs can be found the same way.

Your insurance inside super may be at risk

This is the one most people miss entirely. Many Australian super funds automatically include death cover and income protection insurance as part of the default membership. Some funds will cancel or suspend this cover if your account has been inactive — no employer contributions received — for a period that varies by fund but is often 16 months.

If you left Australia without checking your insurance settings, your cover may already be gone. Log into your fund’s online portal, check whether your insurance is still active, and if the fund requires an opt-in to maintain it during a period of inactivity, do that now.

Can you still contribute?

You can make personal (voluntary) contributions to your Australian super from foreign income. Whether it makes financial sense depends on your situation:

If you are a non-resident for Australian tax: personal contributions are still possible, but whether a deduction is available depends on the normal contribution rules and your wider tax position. In practice, many people in Japan treat this more as a long-term retirement move than an immediate tax-saving move.
If you are still an Australian tax resident: the normal rules apply. Concessional (pre-tax) contributions are capped at AUD 30,000 per year (2025/26 rate, indexed). Non-concessional contributions are capped at AUD 120,000 per year, with the bring-forward rule allowing up to AUD 360,000 in one year if you have not used it in the prior two years.

Your Japanese employer is not contributing

The Superannuation Guarantee — Australia’s mandatory employer contribution of 11.5% of ordinary time earnings (2025/26) — only applies to employers paying employees in Australia. Working for a Japanese company in Japan, no SGA obligation exists for anyone.

Japan and Australia have had a bilateral social security agreement in force since January 1, 2009. The key practical effects:

While working for a Japanese employer in Japan, you contribute to Japanese social insurance (kosei nenkin, health insurance) and are generally covered by that system — not expected to contribute to both simultaneously.
Totalization: years of kosei nenkin contributions can count toward the 10-year qualifying period for the Australian Age Pension (the government pension). If you spend significant years in Japan contributing to kosei nenkin, those years are not lost from an Australian pension perspective.

One important distinction: the SSA applies to the Australian Age Pension — a government benefit. It is completely separate from your private superannuation fund, which accumulates independently.

For Working Holiday Visa Holders

Australian citizens in Japan on a Working Holiday Visa have the same remittance options as anyone else — Wise is still the cleanest choice for JPY→AUD. But there are two WHV-specific points worth knowing.

Australian tax residency on a WHV

Most WHV holders in Japan remain Australian tax residents. The WHV is temporary (usually one year), and most WHV holders keep their domicile, family ties, and financial base in Australia. Under the ATO’s ordinary concepts and domicile tests, continuing Australian tax residency is the most likely outcome. That means:

You should file an Australian tax return for any year you earn income — in Japan or in Australia
Your Japanese employment income may be assessable in Australia, subject to the foreign income tax offset for Japanese tax paid
You need to check this with a tax professional if you are unsure — the ATO’s residency tool is the starting point

The Japanese pension lump-sum refund

This is the one most WHV holders in Japan do not know about until it is almost too late.

If you worked as an employee in Japan and contributed to the Japanese pension system (kosei nenkin) for at least 6 months, you may be eligible for a Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment (脱退一時金, dattai ichiji-kin) when you leave Japan.

The key conditions:

You are not a Japanese citizen
You no longer have an address registered in Japan
You apply within 2 years of losing your Japanese address
You have not reached pension-eligible age in Japan

The payment is calculated based on your months of contribution, capped at a maximum of 60 months (5 years). The amount returned is a portion of what you paid in — not the full contributions — and withholding tax applies in Japan (typically 20.42%), though you may be able to reclaim some of this.

The trade-off with the SSA: If you claim the lump-sum withdrawal, those contribution months are removed from the Japanese pension system and cannot be used for SSA totalization toward your Australian Age Pension qualifying period. For a WHV holder who spent one year in Japan, the lump sum is likely the practical choice — the Age Pension totalization benefit of one year’s contributions is minimal. For someone who spent several years in Japan with substantial contributions, the calculation is worth doing more carefully.

Before You Return to Australia

If you are planning to move back in the next one to three years, these are the things worth resolving before you go.

Consolidate your super accounts. Find and merge any old accounts via myGov. Check whether your insurance cover is still active inside the fund. Both take fifteen minutes and can save you years of unnecessary fees.

Consider a non-concessional super contribution on return. If you are arriving back with Japanese savings and are under 75, the bring-forward rule allows you to contribute up to AUD 360,000 in non-concessional super contributions in a single year (using three years of the AUD 120,000 cap at once), provided you have not triggered the bring-forward in the prior two years. For people returning to Australia after several years with accumulated savings, this is worth planning around.

Decide on the Japanese pension lump sum before you cancel your residence. The 2-year window starts when you deregister your Japanese address. If you qualify, start the application process soon after departure — do not let the window close.

Clarify your Australian tax residency for the return year. The first Australian tax return covering the year you return may involve a part-year resident position rather than a clean full-year answer. An accountant familiar with returning expats will handle this more cleanly than trying to map UK-style “split year” language onto the Australian system.

Check your Australian property situation. The main residence CGT exemption has specific rules for non-residents. If you have owned Australian property while living in Japan, whether you rented it out or left it vacant affects your CGT position when you eventually sell. The rules changed in 2020 — get specific advice before any property transaction.

Recommended Setup

Regular monthly transfers → Wise. Best rate, fastest, no surprises.

Paid Revolut user on weekdays → Wise or Revolut are close — check the rate.

Large pre-return transfer of savings → Wise for most amounts; bank wire via PRESTIA for formal documentation.

On a Working Holiday Visa → Wise for transfers home. Check your Australian tax residency position. Apply for the Japanese pension lump sum within 2 years of leaving — do not miss the window.

Worried about super → Check insurance status, consolidate accounts via myGov, decide on a contribution strategy if you plan to top up on return.

Not sure about Australian tax residency → ATO residency tool first, accountant second.

If you want to try Wise, you can sign up with my link and get either a free card or zero fees on a transfer up to ¥75,000, depending on the offer Wise is showing at the time.

If you want to try Revolut, you can sign up free with my link. The free Standard plan currently gives you up to ¥25,000/month of ATM withdrawals with no Revolut fee, weekday FX up to ¥300,000/month with no extra fee, free virtual and single-use cards you can manage in-app, and access to cashback offers with selected online merchants in Revolut Shops.

Key sources: ATO residency, ATO residence status checker, ATO on foreign and temporary residents, ATO on personal super contributions, ATO on preservation age, ATO on DASP, Japan Pension Service on the Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment, Services Australia on the Japan-Australia social security agreement, ATO super contribution caps. Exchange rates change daily — verify before transferring.