1. What Is Wise?
Wise began as an international money transfer service, but today it is everyday payment infrastructure. It holds balances like a bank, lets you pay with a debit card, and enables instant person-to-person transfers. It supports over 70 currencies, and exchange fees are a fraction of what banks charge.
TokiStorage chose Wise for a simple reason. Bank transfers take time to confirm. Credit card payments carry 3–4% processing fees and chargeback risk. With Wise, transfer fees are just a few dozen yen, funds arrive instantly, and the recipient pays nothing.
Above all, there is Wisetag—a mechanism that lets you send and receive money using only a short, public string. No email address or account number needs to be shared.
Wise is a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: WISE), used by over 16 million people worldwide. It is authorized by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and operates in Japan as a registered fund transfer service provider under the Kanto Local Finance Bureau (Wise Payments Japan K.K., registration no. 00040). It is a payment service under the same class of regulation as banks.
2. Create an Account
Create an account at the Wise website. All you need is an email address and an identity document (My Number card or driver’s license in Japan; passport elsewhere).
Identity verification usually completes within minutes to one business day. You photograph your document with your smartphone camera and take a selfie. Compared to opening a bank account, it is overwhelmingly fast.
Note: the link above is an affiliate (referral) link. When someone who registers through this referral sends the equivalent of 30,000 yen or more, the referrer receives a 2,200-yen reward. Monitor program purchases are under 30,000 yen, so participating in the monitor program alone does not trigger the affiliate reward. For details, see “Disclosure of Referral Links.”
TokiStorage has no capital relationship, business partnership, or sponsorship agreement with Wise. We adopted it as a user because we judged it to be the best available payment infrastructure.
3. Check Your Wisetag
After creating your account, check your Wisetag. This becomes your ID within the TokiStorage ecosystem.
In the Wise app or on the web, go to “Account” → “Wisetag.” It is a short string like @yourname. Share this tag with the other party, and you can receive money. No account number or email address required.
You enter this Wisetag when applying for the monitor program. Rewards are also sent to this tag.
4. Add Funds
There are several ways to add funds to your Wise account.
- Bank transfer — Transfer to the local bank account Wise provides. This has the lowest fees.
- Debit card — Reflected instantly, though your card issuer may charge a fee.
Payments to TokiStorage are same-currency (JPY → JPY), so no exchange fee applies. Only a transfer fee of a few dozen yen.
5. Send a Payment
To pay TokiStorage, use the “Send” function in Wise.
- Tap “Send” → Enter TokiStorage’s Wisetag as the recipient
- Enter the amount (the specified amount for the monitor program)
- Add a note describing your order in the “Reference” field
- Confirm the transfer
The transfer arrives instantly. No waiting until the next business day, as with bank transfers.
6. Receive Your Reward
Monitor program rewards are sent to your Wisetag via Wise. When you receive a notification, the funds are already in your Wise balance.
You can spend the balance directly using Wise’s digital debit card (compatible with Apple Pay and Google Pay). At convenience stores, online shops—anywhere. You can also withdraw to a bank account.
There is no fee to receive rewards.
7. Why Wise, Not a Bank?
Bank transfers are the norm in Japan, but they are poorly suited for small person-to-person payments. Transfer fees run several hundred yen, confirmation takes time, and you must share your account number with the other party.
With Wise, fees are a few dozen yen, funds arrive instantly, and a Wisetag is all you need. Moreover, it handles cross-border transfers seamlessly. Because TokiStorage’s services are designed to scale globally, it was essential to have a single payment mechanism that works for domestic and international users alike.
“Standardize on a single payment method”—this design decision does impose the initial burden of creating a new account. But once created, that one account covers every TokiStorage service.
One tool is enough—if it works in every situation.
One Wise account covers purchases, rewards, domestic, and international—everything.