Opening a bank account is the first barrier for international students coming to Japan.
For most international students, one of the things they have to do when they come to Japan is open a bank account. However, this is not easy for young people who are not familiar with Japanese.
Probably many international students coming to Japan are experiencing similar difficulties. According to a teacher I know at a Japanese language school, there are banks that change the difficulty of the procedures depending on the student's country of origin. In other words, people in the United States and people in Southeast Asia are treated differently. In the case of the Japanese language school where the acquaintance worked, a staff member accompanied the students to open an account at Japan Post Bank. The process takes half a day and requires a reservation, but Japan Post Bank can handle the process no matter where the student is from.
According to a survey of 667 foreign residents with bank accounts, the overwhelming majority were with Japan Post Bank.
An international student who wrote a letter to the newspaper said that in Vietnam, the procedures can be done much more quickly.
I searched for information on the procedures for foreigners who came to Vietnam to open a bank account locally.
If in Japan, screening is done by humans and it takes time, then moving to AI may be an option.