The Bank-Book (Tsucho) and Its Decline

The Japan bank book, the paper passbook most residents still receive at account opening, is a booklet the bank prints your transactions into line by line. It survived decades after other countries moved to online statements, but annual fees and digital defaults are now ending its run.¹²

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at your bank's official fee and passbook pages.

Overview

The 通帳 (tsūchō, "bank book" or "passbook") is the traditional record of transactions for a Japanese bank account, a paper booklet kept alongside the cash card.¹ Many banks still issue one when you open an 普通預金 (futsū yokin, "ordinary deposit") account, and newcomers meet it within days of arriving.³¹

Fee amounts, age exemptions, and digital-default rules in this article differ by bank and by account-opening date. They are not ward-office or nationality rules, so always check the page of the bank you actually use.³⁴

What a Tsucho Is and How You Update It

A tsucho is a portable transaction history, not a monthly statement. Each printed line records a deposit or withdrawal against the account with a running balance, and the booklet itself is the record you present when proof is needed.¹

The printed record: what each line shows

Every line in the booklet represents one transaction against the account. The running balance next to it shows where the account stood after that entry posted.¹

The booklet doubles as evidence. When you need a bank certificate or a history of your transactions, for example for visa-application purposes, the printed passbook is the document banks and applicants fall back on.¹

Updating at the branch machine

You update the booklet by sliding it into an ATM or branch machine, which prints the latest transactions directly onto the pages.¹ Entries appear only when you feed the book through, so the record goes stale between visits.

This is the habit to build if you keep paper. Update the book regularly at a compatible machine rather than letting months of transactions pile up unprinted.¹

The Post-2020 Shift: Fees and Digital Defaults

Starting in 2020 the megabanks began charging for paper and steering new accounts to digital passbooks. Mizuho moved first, and its rivals followed with their own fee schedules and digital products.⁴

Paper passbook fees at the megabanks

SMBC charges an annual paper-passbook usage fee of 550 yen, tax included, on individual ordinary-deposit accounts opened on or after April 1, 2021 (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with SMBC).³⁵ The fee is debited each year on February 8, or the next business day if that date is a bank holiday (as of 2026-09).³

SMBC exempts customers under 18 and those 75 or older, along with non-resident customers (as of 2026-09).³ Do not assume those ages apply at other banks. Mizuho's line is drawn at 70, with customers 70 and older receiving paper free (as of 2020-08-21).⁴

Mizuho charges 1,100 yen to issue a paper passbook to new account openers under age 70, for accounts opened from January 18, 2021, including additional passbook issuance (as of 2020-08-21).⁴ MUFG's paper figure is reported by practitioner sources at 550 yen a year, the same band as SMBC, against Mizuho's 1,100 yen per book (as of 2024-08).²

Switch to the digital passbook to stop the annual fee

Each bank's digital passbook is free, so switching is the standard way to end the yearly charge. Check your bank's app or online banking menu for the switch procedure before the next debit date.⁶⁷²

The table below collects the reported figures in one place. Figures are dated per row because each comes from a different source vintage.

Item	Amount	As of	Notes
SMBC paper-passbook annual usage fee	¥550 (tax incl.)	2026-093	Post-2021-04-01 ordinary accounts; debited Feb 8 yearly
SMBC passbook reissue fee	¥1,100 (tax incl.)	2026-093	Lost or damaged booklet replacement
Mizuho paper passbook issuance (under 70)	¥1,100	2020-08-214	New accounts from 2021-01-18; 70+ free
MUFG paper figure (secondary-reported)	¥550/year (tax incl.)	2024-082	Practitioner-reported; confirm with MUFG

Reissue fees follow the same pattern. SMBC charges 1,100 yen, tax included, for each cash-card or passbook reissue (as of 2026-09).³

Digital-only account opening as the new default

SMBC's Web通帳 (webu tsūchō, "web passbook") issues no paper booklet at all. Balances and statements are viewed through SMBC Direct or the bank app, with statements reaching back to 2019 and up to 30 years of display.⁶

MUFG offers Eco通帳 (eko tsūchō, "eco passbook"), its internet passbook service, as the digital alternative to paper.⁷ Japan Post Bank offers its own passbook app as its digital channel.⁸ Mizuho points new customers to a free online passbook holding up to 10 years of transactions viewable by smartphone.⁴

MUFG has also tightened the screws on dormant paper. Since September 11, 2024, a paper passbook with no entry for more than two years, on an account with an issued cash card, has its passbook use stopped automatically under revised terms.⁹

Paper or Digital: Which Should You Choose

The choice is practical, not ideological. Keep paper where a physical record earns its keep, and go digital everywhere else. The diagram below sketches the decision.

When paper is still convenient

Paper is still convenient when someone asks to see the booklet or its cover. SMBC issues an account-number notice for customers who must submit a copy of the passbook cover, for example to an employer.³

Visa-application income proof is the classic case. A printed transaction history from the passbook is the fallback document when an application calls for proof of funds or income.¹ Some ward-office submissions and employer paperwork may ask for the booklet or its cover copy in the same way, though acceptance varies by counter.³

When digital-only is fine

Digital-only is fine for most active accounts. The digital passbook carries no annual usage fee, is viewable at any hour from a phone or computer, holds years of searchable history, and cannot be lost or damaged the way paper can.²

If you already manage the account through an app or online banking, you are already living the digital-only life. Switching the passbook over just aligns the record with how you actually bank.⁶⁷

Switching Between Paper and Digital

Most banks let you convert in either direction, with conditions and fees set per bank. Confirm the exact steps at your own bank before assuming a switch is free or reversible.³⁶²

At SMBC, switching to Web tsucho means no paper passbook is issued afterward and no reissue fee applies, but the paper booklet itself can no longer be used (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with SMBC).⁶ If the annual paper fee cannot be debited for lack of funds, the bank moves the account to passbook-less operation after a notice period running to around March 7 (as of 2026-09).³

Switching back to paper takes identity checks and a fee

Returning from digital to paper at SMBC requires identity verification plus a 550 yen handling step. Decide the direction before you switch rather than toggling back and forth.³

Good to know

Long-unprinted transactions may come back as one summary line

Leave a paper passbook un-updated for a long stretch and the bank may collapse the backlog into a single summary line, with per-transaction detail lost from the paper record. Practitioner sources describe this aggregation under the label 合計記帳 (gōkei kichō, "aggregated recording"), though no bank primary page fetched for this article states the rule in full.²

Losing the booklet costs a reissue fee and a branch visit

A lost or damaged paper passbook needs a formal reissue procedure. At SMBC the reissue costs 1,100 yen, tax included (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with SMBC).³ GaijinPot's newcomer guidance gives the underlying reason to avoid this: the booklet is the document you need when a certificate or transaction history is called for.¹

Online-only banks skip this choice entirely

Do not expect a passbook from an online-only bank. App-based banks such as Rakuten Bank, SBI Sumishin Net Bank, and PayPay Bank operate without branch counters, so the paper-or-digital question only arises at banks with physical passbook infrastructure.¹

See also

• Japan's Banking System: The Five Bank Tiers Explained
• Bank Account in Japan for Foreigners: The Six-Month Rule
• Japan Post Bank for Foreigners: Opening a Yucho Account
• The Cash Economy and Where Digital Has Won
• ATM Hours and the 7-Eleven (Seven Bank) Default

References

Footnotes

1. GaijinPot Blog. "How to Set Up a Bank Account in Japan." 2025-07-10. https://blog.gaijinpot.com/how-to-set-up-a-bank-account-in-japan/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

2. 須田幸宏 (FP), note.com. 「紙通帳の時代からデジタル通帳の時代へ」. 2024-08-14. https://note.com/miracle46/n/n91144819ee1d ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. 株式会社三井住友銀行 (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation). 「キャッシュカード・通帳関連の各種手数料」. https://www.smbc.co.jp/kojin/fee/card.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

4. Osamu Tsukimori, The Japan Times. "Mizuho becomes first Japan megabank to set fee for new passbooks." 2020-08-21. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/08/21/business/mizuho-first-japan-bank-passbook-fee/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Oliver Rossi, Japan Handbook. "Understanding Japanese Bank Fees: How to Avoid Hidden Charges." 2025-12-05. https://japanhandbook.com/understanding-japanese-bank-fees-how-to-avoid-hidden-charges/ ↩

6. 株式会社三井住友銀行. 「Web通帳・各種手数料」. https://www.smbc.co.jp/kojin/sougou/kouzakaisetsu/web-tsucho/direct/index01.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

7. 株式会社三菱UFJ銀行 (MUFG Bank). 「Eco通帳（インターネット通帳）」. https://www.bk.mufg.jp/tsukau/eco_tsuchou/index.html ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. 株式会社ゆうちょ銀行 (Japan Post Bank). 「ゆうちょ通帳アプリ」. https://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/app/app_tsucho.html ↩

9. 株式会社三菱UFJ銀行. 「紙通帳のお取扱の変更のお知らせ（「通帳に関する特約」の改定）」. 2024-09-02. https://www.bk.mufg.jp/info/changing_handling_of_paper_passbooks/index.html ↩