JAL, AMEX, Rakuten: Which card is best?

One of the main must-do task when living in Japan is having a credit card.This task may seem easy in other countries, but when it comes to Japan, where there is a large variety of benefices and uses, it can be difficult. In this post, I will explain, from my experience, the pros and cons of 3 famous credit cards used in Japan.

The first thing to ask when you want to apply for a credit card is WHY? What kind of benefit do you want to gain from a credit card? Travel, points, exclusivity or luxury? This question will narrow your range of search considerably. question is how much you would like to pay as an annual fee to take this benefit? This will also filter out some options and help you decide better.

In the case of Japan, one of the thrilling benefits is points.Points obtained everywhere, in every shop and every time you make a purchase.What makes these points special is that they can easily be converted to points.General most basic credit cards, you get 1 point for every 200 ¥ spent.And depending on your need and the card you choose, you can convert these points to either miles or simply money.

One of the benefits for travelers: Miles.Miles can be accumulated through purchases, depending on your card type, and then used to buy airline tickets.Usually, this kind of credit card lets you accumulate miles through both normal shopping and through traveling.This can be helpful to those who travel a lot within a year.

Now let's move to a concrete example.No more theories ..! I will talk about my experience in choosing a credit card.

As I said at the beginning, the two important questions I asked myself are why I need a credit card? For what benefit? And how much I can afford for membership annual fee.The answer was: Miles and I set my maximum annual fee to 11,000 ¥ .So I went through many cards to finally decide on JAL Card .unfortunately for this website, everything is in Japanese and you need a lot of translation.I will tell you briefly JAL card's major benefits:

-> Mileage function-
> Suica (Optional)
-> 1 Mile for every 200 \ spent (sometimes for every 100 \)

As I applied for JAL Card , I noticed that first I don't travel that much! So maybe mileage benefit is not really what I am enjoying, meanwhile, I found out that I can't convert my accumulated miles to points, or I can only use them in some specified shops by JAL (which I rarely go to ...)

Meanwhile, I discovered another Credit card of American Express Called Sky Traveler .For 11,000 ¥ per year, you can benefit from free access to some lounges many airports in the world.This type of card can be helpful for people traveling a lot within and outside of Japan.Another important point for AMEX Sky Traveler Card is the conversion of points to mileages, which is pretty useful especially when a lot of points were accumulated.

But, on the other hand, AMEX Sky Traveler was not helpful in many times in lounge access.During many trips of mine, this card couldn't guarantee free lounge access, I needed at least Platinum rank to be able to use some lounges. Things then started to get mixed in my mind? Do I really need a mileage benefit in my credit card? Do I really travel a lot? The answer was -as expected- NO .

My new card-search journey started again, but this time without mileage. Then I found out about Rakuten Premium Credit Card , which I am using till now.With 11,000 ¥ a year, you enter a whole new system that evolves around Rakuten.You Can Choose To Combine With JCB, AMEX, VISA Or MASTERCARD. Also, The Best Part Of It Is The Priority Pass . When Subscribing To Rakuten Premium Card, You Can Get A 2-Years Membership And A Card Of Priority Pass That Will Allow You to enter for free more than 1200 lounges in the world (even those that weren't accessible by AMEX Sky Traveler).

Bref, to not make this post too long, let's draw a table that will summarize the pros and cons of the three credit cards mentioned above: