Hi everyone,
Sorry if this has been written somewhere else on the forum, but I wanted to pass this on:

UFJ bank now has an ATM card you can use overseas (it has the PLUS sign on it), so you can access your japanese account while back home. Yay, about time...

You have to open an account with UFJ and ask for the "international card". You will probably need to take a japanese speaker along with you though.

Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi has a similar card, also called the "international card". It also has the "visa plus" logo on the back of the card and can be used overseas.
Bridget

Problem with the SMBC name: http://www.smbc.co.jp/global/

I sent an invoice to a client listing 3 possible bank accounts to which they could send remittance. I typed Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and for some reason this caused a fuss. Apparently the name writting in Japanese is Mitsui Sumitomo (sure enough if you look at the kanji it starts with the three horizontal lines for the number three). Be warned, it can go either way depending on which documents you are looking at. The company chose the "SMBC" logo with the letters in that order, but it does not strictly match the name order when written in Japanese.

P.S. On the subject of ATM cards:
The Shinsei bank also has the ATM card that can be used overseas (with the Plus logo on the back). I think that most of the major banks are now doing it (in contrast to a couple of years ago). Fees may differ. They are merging and re-merging so much, it's hard to keep track of it all.