Which Japanese Credit Card(s)?

[oki-j]

I own a Seison American Express Card, which is great for accumulating points / miles.

But are there any other Japanese credit cards that the RetireJapan community highly recommends for:

- Online shopping?
- Travel?
- Small Businesses?

[Utachiyo]

I'm sure cards that offer air travel miles will be the most popular with everyone here, but I have two cards. One is a Pitapa/Mitsui Sumitomo visa, which I mostly use as a train pass, and Orico The Point, which has no yearly fees and offers Amazon gift cards for points (I use Amazon all the time, so I felt this was the best option for me).

[kizuki]

I use the Amex SPG card which gives 1.25% in miles. Each mile for me is around 2yen during peak periods and much higher during off peak periods or for higher classes of travel. Every two years, we get to make a trip home which is almost completely paid by the miles.

I have cards from other Japanese providers as well but Amex is miles ahead in terms of the customer service it provides.

[KyushuWoozy]

I'd like to disrecommend Rakuten. We use it for our business account and yesterday had a ¥50,000± transaction we didn't recognize. Called them up and they said they wouldn't be able to tell us anything about it for 2 weeks because it's an overseas transaction. Gives potential fraudsters plenty of time to screw me over repeatedly.

Compare this to Citibank in Indonesia (where I lived previously). I called them about a suspicious transaction and they immediately could tell me the details even though that too was an overseas transaction. Turned out that one was fraudulent so was able to cancel my card same day.

Disclaimer: our Rakuten card is debit (not credit) but I'm guessing that doesn't make any difference in this matter.

[TelecInvestor]

Anyone uses or knows Saison Card? I've seen it a couple of times with some sweet One Piece covers but I'm still waiting some months before trying again!

[RetireJapan]

Anyone uses or knows Saison Card? I've seen it a couple of times with some sweet One Piece covers but I'm still waiting some months before trying again!

Saison was my first Japanese credit card (still have it as no fee and improves credit score). I tend to use air mile cards now.

[Stewart]

I have an ANA card through Sumitomo Mitsui Bank and it has served me well - no fees and easy to exchange points for miles as it is directly linked to my ANA mileage account. Through that I've flown back to the UK four times for the cost of the tax plus other short haul flights within Asia. Friends tell me that it is much easier to use miles with Japanese airlines than USA ones but I have no direct experience of that.

[adamu]

Disclaimer: our Rakuten card is debit (not credit) but I'm guessing that doesn't make any difference in this matter.

Rakuten debit is run by Rakuten bank, Rakuten credit is a completely separate entity. So it probably makes a big difference.

[Max]

I have an ANA card through Sumitomo Mitsui Bank and it has served me well - no fees and easy to exchange points for miles as it is directly linked to my ANA mileage account. Through that I've flown back to the UK four times for the cost of the tax plus other short haul flights within Asia. Friends tell me that it is much easier to use miles with Japanese airlines than USA ones but I have no direct experience of that.

Please could you clarify：what does "the cost of the tax" refer to?

[TokyoWart]

I have an ANA card through Sumitomo Mitsui Bank and it has served me well - no fees and easy to exchange points for miles as it is directly linked to my ANA mileage account. Through that I've flown back to the UK four times for the cost of the tax plus other short haul flights within Asia. Friends tell me that it is much easier to use miles with Japanese airlines than USA ones but I have no direct experience of that.

Please could you clarify：what does "the cost of the tax" refer to?

When you use miles to pay for a plane ticket you still have to use real money to pay the associated taxes (which I think are related to airport fees and fuel surcharges, not a sales tax per se).