" Louise Bremner" <dame_zumari@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1g3jmtj.1pkzoxxr0h63vN%dame_zumari@yahoo.com...
> mr.sumo snr. <mr_sumo@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
> Something similar happened to me at the old Dai-Ichi Kingyo. To help the
> poor helpless gaigin, the person who had asked for the furikomi sent
> instructions in English only--bank name, branch name, account name,
> account number... and "current account".
>
> I know how to do furikomi, since I've done it many times before, so I
> wnet through the whole sequence on the assumption that "current account"
> meant *futsu yokin* since all previous transfers had been to *futsu*
> accounts. Wrong. So I tried again, assuming I'd mis-typed something.
> Still wrong. So I was going to try each of the other options in turn,
> when the auntie bustled over and pressed the English Guidance button for
> me (prehaps she assumed I couldn't read it).
>
> At that point, I had a suspicion I knew why I hadn't pressed it in the
> first place, so I said "You do it, then", and gave her the paper. That's
> when the fun really started--there was no "current account" option in
> the "English" menus, and it soon became clear that the Dai-Ichi Kingyo
> programmers hadn't bothered testing those menus either, because she got
> stuck in a loop and had to call for help. Eventually, there were three
> people trying to get this furikomi to work, with me trying not to laugh
> too obviously. The most senior of them ended up switching back to the
> Japanese menus to try each option in turn....
>

One has to wonder why they don't configure the ATMs for "ingurishu
furikomi".  Not enough demand perhaps.  But it's more likely to be
'transient' gaijin who want to send funds 'back home' via bank transfer to
Citibank or Lloyds and then overseas. 'Transients' are also less likely to
be comfortable with the Japanese-only menus.

BTW does anyone know the primary method by which Brazilians working in Japan
send money to their home country?  I remember someone telling me about 7
years ago that the total annual non-commerical wire transfers from Japan to
Brazil was something like USD $2 billion - that's got to be worth an entry
in the Brazilian budget accounts.



-- 
jonathan
--
"Never give yen to ducks"

I'm usually paying for Yahoo Japan auction stuff when I need to 'furikomi'.
I used to print off the e-mail from the seller and ask my wife to transfer
the funds when she went to the bank...she soon got tired of that and told me
to use what little charm I have on the counter staff to get them to help me.
In fact, I've found the 'helpless gaijin' thing pretty useful as a student
recruitment method.