Credit card - Is gold credit card necessary?

[adamu]

There is a thread on the Rakuten Gold card here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1271

From there premium seems to require 550,000 to be worth it.

Hi Adamu! Thanks for the thread. I'll look into it and also my yearly calculations to see if I can go for premium card from normal card. In that event, I will cancel my gold prestia card.

Ahh sorry I wasn't clear. The 550,000 needs to be spent on Rakuten Ichiba. It's not general spending.

[dangocurry]

There is a thread on the Rakuten Gold card here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1271

From there premium seems to require 550,000 to be worth it.

Hi Adamu! Thanks for the thread. I'll look into it and also my yearly calculations to see if I can go for premium card from normal card. In that event, I will cancel my gold prestia card.

Ahh sorry I wasn't clear. The 550,000 needs to be spent on Rakuten Ichiba. It's not general spending.

Oh Thank you again! I rarely spend 100k on rakuten ichiba. Mostly amazon if compared.
Guess I will cancel my gold card and use normal rakuten card.

[TJKansai]

I find the fees for gold cards in Japan to be too high to make them worthwhile. Then again I have a bunch of US cards with all kinds of benefits and no FX charges, and it is those I use when traveling outside Japan (or at international hotels in Japan like Hyatt or Marriott).

For domestic spending, I have had a regular Saison United Airlines card for a couple decades (was Amex, then changed to Mastercard so I can use it at Costco). I earn 15 miles per ¥1,000 which is pretty good. I would say I am getting about 3% back in value. Fee is about ¥6500/yr.

At times I have called when buying plane tickets and had the limit raised to 800,000.

I also have a fee free DC Gold card from the Shigakukyosai. Gets me and my wife into domestic lounge which doesn't really mean much (no food, no free booze).

The travel insurance that comes with the Japanese cards is decent, and we have used it a couple times for doctor's visits overseas.