Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

Illustration by Ben Turner

Don’t Bank On It

Regarding “Banking with the Dinosaurs” (The Last Word, February 19):

I would agree with most of what was written here—if it were written in 1993. I haven’t had a problem with cash machines in Tokyo for a long time. Most convenience stores also have cash machines, and most of these take NYCE cards. Almost all the cash machines around me are open 24 hours a day. I don’t know where Mr. Veverka lives, but in Minato-ku there are no problems getting cash. I remember way back in 1993 this was a problem, but not anymore.

Citibank had a private banking operation in Japan, but had to shut down after a scandal. So bringing in unregulated banks does not make sense. Banks should be regulated, obviously, and Citibank and HSBC are already here.

And regarding the furikomi fees that Mr. Veverka complains about: in the US, they have wiring fees as well, and I remember paying a lot more for wire transfers in the States versus in Japan.

Most US banks close at 3pm, and some offer services after hours, but this is also the case with some banks in Japan.

Once again, if this were 1993, I would agree, but in 2010, the article is just not valid.—cohiba*

Regarding the unavailability of 24-hour cash machines, it’s a legal requirement [that banks] keep a staff member present when the ATMs are open in case there is an issue. That’s all. Inconvenient for sure. But why can’t people—like the author of this article—check their facts on this before going on a several hundred word rant about it?

Regarding “opening up the banking industry to more direct, unregulated foreign competition,” yes, that’s EXACTLY what people need—unregulated banking by huge foreign banks. No flaw in that logic. And both Citi and HSBC are already in Japan!

But this argument about “nobody takes foreign cards” reads like it was written years ago. Has the author not ventured into a 7-Eleven? They’ve been taking foreign cards since 2007—all of the 7-Elevens in the country. If you need cash after hours or from a foreign card, 7-Eleven is the place to go. Easy!
—pawtan**

BUDDHA BANALITY

Regarding “Buddha Boys” (Pop Life, February 19):

Whoof, I decided to lose my precious time and image-Googled all the boys mentioned in the article. My conclusion is that 99 percent of Japanese girls are lesbians. That’s the only explanation for them to be in love with boys who look like women.
—LostinNagoya**

Art Attack

Regarding “Cecil Balmond” (Art, February 19):

What rubbish!

If art could ever actually degenerate to the point of being nothing more than self-serving, self-congratulatory, egocentric, vapid cliché, then this guy’s efforts might be included. Until then, the world of art is far out of reach of such self-styled prima donnas of the geeky/academic world. Sorry—we don’t need this sh*t, and never will.

Even though the present-day UK has an apparent appetite for pseudo-intellectual BS, one hopes that they won’t succeed in making a minor export industry out of it. Give us your ragged and poor and hungry, etc., but not your phonies! Don’t such types even get it that junk terminology of the “algorhythm” sort ceased to impress anyone some years back?
Get a job.—A. White*

Random Missive of the Week

Don’t the Japanese make jokes about the way people dress? Every day, on the trains and the streets, I see walking adverts for LV, Burberry, Harley Davidson, etc. There are thousands of unpaid Japanese “sandwich-board people” everywhere. If I dressed like that back home, I’d be pilloried. Anyone up for the first original joke for the walking adverts of Japan?—O.R. Topzee

* taken from the Metropolis comment threads
** taken from the Japan Today comment threads

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