RetireJapan

I have 9k points right now so should probably find a way of using it lol. They're all time-limited, and I don't really know where to use them haha.

I use most of mine on Rakuten Travel for hotels etc and previously on Rakuten Rentaka to rent cars (but subsequently bought a car so no longer rent). Also a lot of shops and restaurants accept points now in lieu of cash: https://pointcard.rakuten.co.jp/partner/

Rakuten is losing the Barcelona sponsorship next season so I wouldn't bother listing out the Barcelona fixtures. They own the Eagles and Vissel though so that will always be there.

Many people downgraded from Rakuten Gold-> Rakuten (Standard) after they nerfed the points bonuses.

Amazon Gold was a better option for many, as it came with PRIME and most prefer Amazon's UI over Rakuten's UI.

Now they have nerfed Amazon Gold.

I think an argument can be made for having a

A. Amazon basic (Free)

B. Rakuten basic (Free)

C. Trasit card, such as a JR view Credit card (500 yen)

D. SMBC Gold (5000 yen)

....................

This way you 1. Payless, 2. do not lock yourself into an ecosystem, and 3. You can get free points via Rakuten/SBI tsumitate systems.

I have A, B, and C but not yet D. I will wait until Corona is over. No need for travel benefits now.

I don't see why not getting into an ecosystem is a positive. Points being so ubiquitous is one of the very unique thing Japan does and if it doesn't hurt, you should take advantage as much as you can. Its one thing if you don't want to bother thinking about it but I don't see what benefit you get from actively avoiding it.

For example, the Rakuten premium card gives you priority pass in addition to all the benefits being in the Rakuten ecosystem brings. This removes the need for an SMBC gold card. If you don't like Rakuten, the Paypay or the AU ecosystems are valid alternatives.

zeroshiki wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:22 pm I don't see why not getting into an ecosystem is a positive. Points being so ubiquitous is one of the very unique thing Japan does and if it doesn't hurt, you should take advantage as much as you can. Its one thing if you don't want to bother thinking about it but I don't see what benefit you get from actively avoiding it.

For example, the Rakuten premium card gives you priority pass in addition to all the benefits being in the Rakuten ecosystem brings. This removes the need for an SMBC gold card. If you don't like Rakuten, the Paypay or the AU ecosystems are valid alternatives.

I personally think that it is better to get the benefits at the margins, rather than devoting yourself to one system. The free cards allow for this. The mental energy, time devoted to staking Rakuten points seldom match the return in points. Gold cards and travel benefits have also been pretty useless the last 2 years for obvious reasons.

As soon as you get a Rakuten Premium card you are committing to X amount of spending just to recoup your yearly fee. With the free Rakuten card, you will be immediately up 6000 points yearly just through Tsumitate investments.

How is that different from getting a Gold SMBC card with the annual fee? Simplification would be having less cards not more. The Amazon one seems to be the most useless of the bunch and is only applicable to someone who likes Amazon.

zeroshiki wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 2:14 am How is that different from getting a Gold SMBC card with the annual fee? Simplification would be having less cards not more. The Amazon one seems to be the most useless of the bunch and is only applicable to someone who likes Amazon.

That was just an example for those who wanted the travel benefits. A gold card is not necessary.

Having more cards is not a concern. You set up autopay, register them, add them to your digital wallet, and that`s it. You do not need even need to carry it in your wallet.

Limiting yourself to a single retailer certainly has a fair amount of disadvantages. By using the free cards you have no sunk costs, and get access to the most valuable benefits (Tsumutate bonus/points via purchase)

However, if you are someone who enjoys all the homework that comes with the Rakuten ecosystem and maximizing points then the right choice may indeed be a single Rakuten premium card.

Thanks for all the replies, and conversation.

For what it's worth, I applied and was successful for the Rakuten Premium, so will start using that. I actually work at Amazon and opted against their cards because I find that the Rakuten point system seems to be better. But free Prime would have been nice since we don't get this even as employees lol.

Right now I have:

SMBC Gold
Rakuten Premium

And will be downgrading the SMBC Gold to a standard one at some point before they charge me again. I'm not too worried about hitting the 11k points to recoup my value. I already get 6000 from the tsumitate payments, and furusato gets me a tonne of points too, and hopefully more now that I get an additional +2 from Premium. I'll keep it for a year, check my points tally and if it doesn't make sense I'll downgrade.

EDIT: Looks like I already get the +4 from the premium card which is nice. I'm still yet to open a bank account with them but it looks like it's only 1,300 points for doing so right now though I'm sure I've seen 2k before. Will wait to see if that offer gets rejuvenated tomorrow before opening it, and then also will apply for the ETC card.

Has anyone here gone down the route of applying for their 1GB free data sim card and can confirm it works as intended?

Rakuten also bought the Taiwan baseball team 'Monkeys' last year. Not sure if they are included in the win point bonus. If they are then, having two baseball teams would increase the chances of getting the bonus points due to the fact that the season overlap and that baseball has so many games compared to other sports.

Only the Eagles, Vissel and Barcelona count. Actually I think because baseball is every day, I don't even think Rakuten runs the bonus for them every time the Eagles win.