Personal account practicalities: name mismatches, zairyu renewal, blocking, brokerage, and credit cards

If a name is written in the Latin alphabet on the zairyu card but in katakana on other (banking) documents, a bank may refuse the applicant, concluding "no such person exists." The fix is to add the katakana spelling of the name to the 住民票 (jūminhyō) via the 備考欄 (remarks field). Wise has published a list of banks that work with non-residents in Japan on its site; some of the information there goes stale — for example, Japan Net Bank is listed under its old name even though it became PayPay Bank. When a zairyu is renewed, the new document must be re-uploaded in online banking; different banks have different deadlines and notification systems for an expired zairyu (e.g., Sony Bank and Yucho), and sometimes the bank takes a long time to correctly replace the old record (one case involved an 8-month wait with a repeat document submission). Grace periods before a block due to an expired zairyu vary: Yucho gives roughly 2-2.5 months (branch-dependent; another source says 2 months, with standing payments preserved but a transaction cap of 30,000 yen/day if the zairyu shows a renewal-application stamp); Mizuho blocks the account immediately on the day the resident card expires ("turns into a pumpkin"); Prestia and Sumitomo don't fully block but restrict turnover. Wise and Revolut have in some cases not blocked accounts even after 2 months of overdue renewal, and when blocked, the account isn't closed — it is unblocked once a new zairyu is provided. Opening or maintaining a Yucho account for foreigners with an expiring visa has known problems: the app demands a KYC update, but the online update is often ignored by the system. It's recommended to handle this in person at a branch (fill out a paper form), which suppresses notifications for about six months; a tip from the chat is to look for a branch with younger staff in an area with a large foreign population — "older" branches tend to be harder to deal with. Account blocks by Japanese banks are rare but can happen without any explanation and without a right of appeal; in one real case PayPay Bank blocked an account without explanation, though the bank is still obliged to return the funds on request. For investment/brokerage accounts, popular options are SBI, Rakuten, and Interactive Brokers; SBI gets good reviews, while Rakuten may call to check the applicant's Japanese level before opening an account. Opening a brokerage account under a company (rather than an individual) is also possible but comes with its own nuances. A working way to get a first credit card in Japan as a foreigner is through the PayPay app: a card with a 200,000-yen limit, with the physical card arriving within a week — a useful way to start building Japanese credit history.