Send Money from Japan to the Philippines: Fees and Rates
Compare Instarem, Wise, SBI Remit, PayPal and banks for sending yen to the Philippines, with real received amounts, GCash limits, and SHA vs OUR explained.
Information only, not legal advice. Verify with the DMW and the Embassy of Japan before you act.
Key Takeaways
- Compare the amount your family actually receives in pesos, not the fee alone. A service with a 0 yen fee can still give your family fewer pesos if its exchange rate is worse.
- In one comparison for 50,000 yen (28 September 2026), Instarem gave the most pesos, followed by Wise and SBI Remit. Banks gave the least.
- The rate changes every day. Check today's numbers in the rate table at /money before you send.
- SBI Remit can pay to a bank account, to GCash, or as cash pickup. GCash needs a "Fully Verified" account.
- When a bank asks you to choose SHA or OUR, OUR means you pay the middle-bank fees, so the amount your family receives is closer to what you expected.
Compare the received amount first
The number that matters is how many pesos (PHP) arrive. Two things decide it: the fee you pay in yen, and the exchange rate the service uses. A low fee with a poor rate can cost you more than a higher fee with a good rate.
Here is one example. The data comes from Wise's public comparison tool, for sending 50,000 yen to the Philippines, retrieved on 28 September 2026. It is Wise's own collection of each company's rate and fee, so it can differ a little from what each company shows on its own site at another time.
| Service | Rate (PHP per JPY) | Fee | Family receives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instarem | 0.3941 | 0 yen | 19,707.04 PHP |
| Wise | 0.3959 | 631 yen | 19,543.41 PHP |
| SBI Remit | 0.3959 | 1,000 yen | 19,400.97 PHP |
| PayPal | 0.3753 | 0 yen | 18,763.33 PHP |
| SMBC (bank) | 0.3759 | 3,500 yen | 17,480.52 PHP |
| MUFG Bank (bank) | 0.3737 | 6,000 yen | 16,441.64 PHP |
What this table shows:
- Instarem gave the best received amount on that day, about 164 PHP more than Wise.
- PayPal has no fee, but your family gets about 780 PHP less than with Wise. The rate is the reason.
- The two banks charge much more, and their rates are worse too. On this day MUFG Bank delivered roughly 3,300 PHP less than Instarem.
Do not treat this as a permanent ranking. The best service depends on the day's rate and on how much you send. Open /money for today's numbers, then compare the same amount in two or three services before you pay.
Receiving methods: bank, GCash and cash pickup
The details below come from SBI Remit's Philippines page, checked on 28 September 2026. Other services have their own rules.
Bank account. SBI Remit pays into 60 Philippine banks, in pesos only. For banks in its GROUP-1 and GROUP-2, amounts under 50,000 PHP arrive within 15 minutes, any time of day, every day. Amounts above 50,000 PHP take 1 to 2 Philippine banking days.
GCash. Money goes in pesos only, and the receiver's GCash must be "Fully Verified", which means the account has completed identity verification. SBI Remit has sent to GCash since 1 December 2020. You need an SBI Remit online account to use it. GCash also has its own limits over 30 days:
- Fully Verified: 100,000 PHP
- With a linked bank account: 500,000 PHP
- GCash Platinum: 1,000,000 PHP
Cash pickup. Your family collects the cash at a MoneyGram counter. It can take about 10 minutes up to 2 days, depending on the opening hours of the pickup location.
Limits per transfer at SBI Remit. The most you can send in one transfer is 500,000 PHP (and no more than the equivalent of 1 million yen). The minimum is 10 PHP. The daily total is also 500,000 PHP. The Japan-side limit is 1 million yen per transfer.
Wise sends to a Philippine bank account. Your receiver does not need a Wise account. Wise says 74% of transfers arrive within 20 seconds and 95% within one day. Paying from your Wise balance is its cheapest and fastest option; cards and bank transfer cost more or take longer.
What to watch before you press send
Fee versus rate. Look for the final "recipient gets" figure. Wise uses the mid-market rate, which is the middle rate banks trade at between themselves, and shows its fee up front. Some services show "no fee" and hide their cost in a weaker rate. Always compare the peso amount.
Fees depend on the amount. SBI Remit's fee for the Philippines is the same for bank, GCash and cash pickup:
| Amount sent | Fee |
|---|---|
| 1 to 10,000 yen | 480 yen |
| 10,001 to 20,000 yen | 720 yen |
| 20,001 to 30,000 yen | 800 yen |
| 30,001 to 50,000 yen | 1,000 yen |
| 50,001 to 200,000 yen | 1,400 yen |
| 200,001 yen and above | 1,500 yen |
(SBI Remit's fee page, checked 28 September 2026, shows no date.) Because the fee steps up slowly, one bigger transfer usually costs less in fees than several small ones. Wise's fee also changes with the amount and the payment method; the 631 yen above is only the example for 50,000 yen. Wise's bulk discounts start at the equivalent of 25,000 US dollars, so they do not apply to normal monthly support.
Send in pesos. At SBI Remit, sending in US dollars, euros or pounds costs 4,000 to 6,000 yen in fees. Sending in Philippine pesos is cheaper.
SHA or OUR. These words appear when a bank sends money abroad. Sometimes a middle bank takes a fee along the way. SHA means your receiver pays that fee, so the amount received can be smaller than what you sent. OUR means you pay it. If your family needs an exact amount, choose OUR.
Japan Post Bank (Yucho). Since July 2025 the new "Yucho no Kokusai Soukin" service is available to individuals only, and only from accounts registered with your My Number. Limits are under 1 million yen per transfer, 2 million yen per day and 5 million yen per month. Japan Post says that from application to sending to the partner bank it can take "one month or more" in some cases, and it may ask for extra checks or documents about the purpose of the transfer. The fee is taken from your account separately, and middle-bank fees may be deducted from the amount sent. We could not confirm Japan Post's fee for the Philippines from the official page, so check it there before you apply. If you need money to arrive soon, this is not the route to start with.
To know how much you can afford to send each month, start from your real take-home pay. That is explained in SSW salary in Japan: take-home after deductions. And if anyone asks you for a "remittance setup fee" before you even leave the Philippines, read what you should never pay.
FAQ
What is the cheapest way to send money from Japan to the Philippines? It depends on the day and the amount. On 28 September 2026, for 50,000 yen, Instarem gave the most pesos, and Wise and SBI Remit were close behind. Check /money and compare the peso amounts.
Do I need a GCash account to receive money? No. You can send to a bank account or a cash pickup counter. If you want GCash, the account must be Fully Verified for SBI Remit.
How fast does the money arrive? SBI Remit says under 50,000 PHP to certain banks arrives within 15 minutes, all day, every day. Wise says 95% of transfers arrive within one day. Banks and large amounts take longer, sometimes a few banking days.
Summary
Compare what your family receives in pesos, not the fee. On 28 September 2026 Instarem, Wise and SBI Remit gave the most pesos for 50,000 yen, and the banks gave the least. Choose bank, GCash or cash pickup based on your family, keep GCash limits in mind, pick OUR if the exact amount matters, and check today's rates at /money.
Sources
- https://api.wise.com/v4/comparisons/?sourceCurrency=JPY&targetCurrency=PHP&sendAmount=50000
- https://wise.com/ph/send-money/send-money-to-philippines-from-japan
- https://wise.com/jp/pricing/send-money
- https://www.remit.co.jp/en/kaigaisoukin/sendremittance/remittancearea/philippines/
- https://www.remit.co.jp/en/kaigaisoukin/exchangeratecommission/commission/
- https://www.remit.co.jp/en/kaigaisoukin/information/information201102/
- https://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/kojin/sokin/kokusou/kj_sk_ks_index.html
- https://faq.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/faq_detail.html?id=11143
About this guide
Free, honest guide to working and studying in Japan
- ●Every rule is checked against DMW and Immigration Services Agency sources
- ●Written in plain English, with Tagalog where it matters
- ●No job ads, no referrals, no fees from agencies
- ●Corrections welcome through the contact form
Hanapon is run from Manila by a Japanese engineer who reads the Japanese-language rules directly and checks them against what agencies tell applicants here. If something on this page is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
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