Recommendation for first Japanese credit card in 2021

[pfdsa]

Hi everyone!

Never was a credit card person, but after reading the blog and the forum looks like it would be a good idea to get a Japanese one to accumulate points and miles.

At the moment, only have 1 credit card from my country to buy international flights (doesn't accumulate any kind of points or miles, plus costs around 20€ per year in comissions). From what I read looks like it's difficult to be approved if you're on a work visa like me (Applied last week to renew it, but I'm pretty sure that it will come back again with only a 1 year visa).

Don't know if it's relevant, but the bank accounts that I have now are Japan post and Okinawa ginko (currently not living in Okinawa, so I guess it doesn't matter). Also applied for Rakuten account, currently waiting for the credentials to arrive.

Taking that into consideration, with which credit card/bank would I have best odds at getting approved, and would get me decent points and miles?
Would use the card on the following:
-Online shopping (Mainly Monotaro, spend 5,000-10,000 yen per month on car parts in there, and Amazon);
-Costco (Around 10,000 yen per month on Diesel, only do actual shopping once a month);
-Supermarket (Aeon, around 25,000 yen per month);
-Bills (Only Water, Electricity, Gas and car insurance. Around 30,000 yen on total per month);
-Occasional national/international flights and hotels.

Thanks in advance!

[RetireJapan]

Aeon or Amazon might be good for points if you already shop there. Rakuten if you are in their ecosystem. Basically the more you use a given service the more value you can get from their card, but you might end up ignoring cheaper or better alternatives so as not to lose out on points.

It's a tricky line to walk

[pfdsa]

Aeon or Amazon might be good for points if you already shop there. Rakuten if you are in their ecosystem. Basically the more you use a given service the more value you can get from their card, but you might end up ignoring cheaper or better alternatives so as not to lose out on points.

It's a tricky line to walk

Thanks for the advice.
Will definitely keep that in mind

[beanhead]

...and make sure you get a no-fee card.

Rakuten is free, Yahoo card is free and also good if you use SoftBank for mobile or fixed-line internet. Most store cards are also free, so if you regularly go to a Parco or similar their card could be useful. Costco has a card as well, but I don't know if it has a fee.

[captainspoke]

I'm pretty sure you need a MasterCard for costco, which the amazon card is, so maybe weigh that in your decision.

(don't know about the others)

[Teflon]

My personal favorite is the ANA "Classic" Amex card. It was the first card in Japan that actually approved my application. The annual membership fee might seem a bit steep at 7700 yen but if you like to travel in Japan using ANA then it's well worth it. I can easily rack up 30,000 or more ANA miles per year on this card and put them to good use. A non-peak one way ticket costs about 7,000 ANA miles for most cities in Japan (from Tokyo) and it's super easy to book online. If you are not much into domestic travel then this card might not be for you.

One caveat: in the online application the fields only allow for FirstName LastName which was fine (or so I thought) because I don't put my middle name on credit cards. However, Amex sends the card via registered mail and when the elderly no-nonsense mailman checked my ID he refused to give me the envelope because my gaijin card had my middle name on it but the envelope did not. I had to call Amex to have them re-send it with my middle name and that worked.

[pfdsa]

...and make sure you get a no-fee card.

Rakuten is free, Yahoo card is free and also good if you use SoftBank for mobile or fixed-line internet. Most store cards are also free, so if you regularly go to a Parco or similar their card could be useful. Costco has a card as well, but I don't know if it has a fee.

Thanks for the comment!
Took a look at all the suggested ones, and so far Rakuten is the one that looks more appropriate to my needs. Will check out Costco one as well.

I'm pretty sure you need a MasterCard for costco, which the amazon card is, so maybe weigh that in your decision.

(don't know about the others)

Had no idea about that. Always use the prepaid card at Costco, so never paid much attention to their credit card. Thanks for the comment, will take that into consideration for sure.

My personal favorite is the ANA "Classic" Amex card. It was the first card in Japan that actually approved my application. The annual membership fee might seem a bit steep at 7700 yen but if you like to travel in Japan using ANA then it's well worth it. I can easily rack up 30,000 or more ANA miles per year on this card and put them to good use. A non-peak one way ticket costs about 7,000 ANA miles for most cities in Japan (from Tokyo) and it's super easy to book online. If you are not much into domestic travel then this card might not be for you.

One caveat: in the online application the fields only allow for FirstName LastName which was fine (or so I thought) because I don't put my middle name on credit cards. However, Amex sends the card via registered mail and when the elderly no-nonsense mailman checked my ID he refused to give me the envelope because my gaijin card had my middle name on it but the envelope did not. I had to call Amex to have them re-send it with my middle name and that worked.

Thanks for the detailed suggestion! Sure sounds like a good deal for people that fly with ANA frequently.
Unfortunately don't fly that much domestically, and when I do usually fly with low cost carriers (mainly Peach). However, recently moved to Sendai and Peach doesnt have frequent flights from Sendai Airport, so will definitely give a look at what ANA offers.

Completely understand you. Having a first name, middle name, and two surnames, it's always a pain to get bureaucratic stuff done. Then there's the katakana problem. Some banks only allow you to create an account using katakana, and some websites/services only allow you to transfer money using the same name in alphabet as in your card. Needless to say that the bank doesnt accept the transfer and have no way to get my money. Ended up creating two bank accounts. One in katakana and another one in alphabet. Who knew that having a long name would make things this hard

[TJKansai]

Costco takes Mastercard only. They have a no-fee Orico Mastercard which might be easier to get if you have a membership already (just guessing though).

ANA is good if you are using the miles, but I am pretty sure they have an expiration.

I use the Saison Mileage Plus Mastercard. The fee is about ¥6500, but the return is good (abut 3%) and we get good value using the miles for business class seats on Star Alliance or United Airlines. Only real drawback is foreign exchange fees, so we don't use it outside of Japan.

[mighty58]

I use the Saison Mileage Plus Mastercard. The fee is about ¥6500, but the return is good (abut 3%) and we get good value using the miles for business class seats on Star Alliance or United Airlines. Only real drawback is foreign exchange fees, so we don't use it outside of Japan.

Could you clarify? I'd be very interested as 3% is nearly unheard of. I did a Google search and came up with the link below, where it says it's 1.5%(max) and has three possible fee structures, none of which is ¥6500. Do you have some legacy card or something that's no longer available?
https://www.saisoncard.co.jp/mileage/ua/

[TJKansai]

I use the Saison Mileage Plus Mastercard. The fee is about ¥6500, but the return is good (abut 3%) and we get good value using the miles for business class seats on Star Alliance or United Airlines. Only real drawback is foreign exchange fees, so we don't use it outside of Japan.

Could you clarify? I'd be very interested as 3% is nearly unheard of. I did a Google search and came up with the link below, where it says it's 1.5%(max) and has three possible fee structures, none of which is ¥6500. Do you have some legacy card or something that's no longer available?
https://www.saisoncard.co.jp/mileage/ua/

It is higher than anything else I know of in Japan. There are US travel cards such as Chase Sapphire Reserve which earn 3% on travel, but fees are hefty.

One drawback with Saison is that these are UA miles, so you need to plan their use, and there is inflation. Chase has the Ultimate rewards points which are more flexible.

The Saison base fee is ¥1650 and "mileage up" plan will cost you ¥5500 more. With that plan you earn 15 miles per ¥1000 ($9)

So for spending US$9.00 you get 15 United miles that are worth 22.5 to 45 US cents (1.5 cents to 3.0 cents per mile), hence roughly a 3% return.

There is a limit of 30,000 miles a year at the Miles Up rate (spending of around 2 million yen a year). We probably come close to that, as this is my go-to card for domestic spending.

I just booked a roundtrip flight to the US for 70,000 miles my son, since summer Economy is pricing at $1,800.

Scroll down a bit and you'll see the fine print.
https://www.saisoncard.co.jp/mileage/ua-saison/?P5=PN6

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