Money guides for foreigners living in Japan. In plain English, with the Japanese screens translated.

Japan has excellent cashback sites, bank deals and phone plans. Almost none of them have an English page. Save in Japan reads the Japanese for you, checks the official terms, and tells you what is actually worth doing.

Start here: Hapitas, Japan’s largest cashback site

• What is Hapitas? How the points work, who can join, how much you can realistically earn, and the monthly limit nobody mentions.
• How to sign up (every screen translated). Coming next: three minutes, with the referral bonus of up to 2,300 points and the three things to do right after.
• How to cash out, and the first three offers to use. Coming next: bank transfer, PayPay, Amazon, Pollet, and the hotel, shopping and delivery offers that pay the most.

How we work

Every number on this site comes from the service’s own pages or help center, with the date we checked it. When we recommend something, we say what it pays us, and we do not recommend anything we would not use ourselves. If a rule changes, the page gets updated, not a new post. More about us on the About page.

Coming next

The same three guides in 繁體中文, 简体中文 and Tiếng Việt, followed by guides to opening a bank account, choosing a cheap SIM, and sending money home without losing 5% on the way.