depositing a check at the bank

Today I had an interesting experience at the bank. I finally received my GST rebate check in the mail from all the shopping I did in Canada. They nicely sent me a check in Japanese yen, which is totally NOT what I wanted. Oh well, most Japanese people wouldn't want a check in Canadian funds if they had claimed a rebate, so nothing to complain about.

Anyway, originally I had planned on sending it back to Canada to be cashed, but since the check was in yen I didn't want to get burned twice on exchange. So I ran down to the bank to see if they would cash it. My previous experience with cashing a check in Japan (a society that rarely uses credit cards - it is cash only here) was that it would cost more to process the thing than the check was worth. Albeit that was a Canadian funds check drawn on a Canadian bank, whereas the GST rebate was Japanese yen drawn on a Japanese bank.

So I arrived at the bank and went up to ask someone to help me. An interesting thing about Japanese banks - there are always people standing around, whose sole job is to welcome you to the bank, help you fill out forms or help you use the ATM. Seriously. So I asked one of these people for help and that was an interesting experience involving mime because I don't know the words for deposit, bank book, check, or "can I do this?". I guess she understood though because she took my passbook and the check and went dashing upstairs. Of course upstairs is the foreign exchange desk, so I'm not sure why she went up there, but who knows.

Eventually she came running back down and raced around talking to everyone working on the main floor... clearly depositing a check is not something they do every day. Finally I guess they figured it out, and the woman came back with this huge form to fill in. After doing that I just sat down while the helper woman grabbed a number (another difference - you don't wait in line at Japanese banks, you take a number from a number dispensing machine and relax on couches until it is your turn) and then ran my stuff up to the counter when it was my turn. Several minutes later I was called up to the counter and ta-da my check had been processed. Of course they put a hold on the funds until it would clear... and they knew exactly when this would be. Instead of the deposit code in my bankbook, there was the date... and the time!... when the funds would be available. How's that for Japanese efficiency?