Japan Credit Cards

Hello everyone.

Has anyone living in Japan on this board ever applied for a credit card while here?

Some of them are pretty cool. No Yearly fee, and you can get discounts on insurance, or airplane mileage, and other random things.

http://card.otoku-life.com/

Wondering if anyone has gone through the process and can share experiences.

I had a Citibank credit card. Need to have a job, visa, up to date gaijin card. That was it I think, from memory.

I heard that many foreigners get rejected when trying to get a card.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20050315zg.htm

You already have two opinions about this article here : No Japanese credit cards for foreigners?

1. Many card issuing companies insist that you be living at the same address for at least three years (well DC Card requested this of me 8 years ago so I told them to shove it).

2. Japan Postal Savings wanted a guarantor when I applied for their VISA card ten years ago - my father-in-law's signature/name stamp was sufficient. Still have the card knocking around somewhere. No real benefits to mention.

3. Opting for a 'family card' (with your Japanese spouse) usually guarantees a successful application. When the cards arrive, cut up your wife's card and pretend that you were financially sound enough to secure a gold/platinum card all by yourself - yeah...as if...

4. If you're here for the long-term opt for either a gasoline point saving card or an air miles saving card. I've had the latter for several years now and used the miles to upgrade to business class for my last half dozen trips back to UKland.

I have a Visa Sumitomo card, no problem getting it & no problem with it ever. They are happy to help when I've cancelled transactions in the past too, like being charged for something by a company for a service I never had, the Visa company asked no questions and each time asked if I'd like a new number/card to avoid those companies again.

I want a JAL Visa next, for the airmiles.