reverted

Just recently returned from Japan and did not have any problems with either my Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase United MP cards.

It was very surprising how few places that actually accepted credit cards. A lot of places didn't even take Visa and only took JCB cards.

jib71

I may have come across this once or twice, but I think it's somewhat unusual. Can you give some examples of places that would take JCB but not Visa? I couldn't find any numbers - but it does seem that JCB and Visa have roughly the same footprint in terms of acceptance by stores in Japan. (That's not to say that there aren't some stores that favor one or the other).
http://www.creditcardcre.com/compare/

I'm trying to remember if I ever came across a store in Japan that took Visa but not JCB. I made a conscious effort to use my JCB card everywhere when I had one.

reverted

Now that I really think about it, the one example that really really pops out at me is the entire Tokyo Disney Resort parks. They ONLY accepted JCB cards, since it was the 'official card' of TDR.

On top of that, I believe I saw several convenience stores/100 yen stores such as FamilyMart that took either just yen or JCB. Although could this also be a regional thing? A FamilyMart in Tokyo could operate differently than that of one more remote?

Also, I guess with the abundance of convenience stores I may have mixed up which ones accepted cards or not.

Is JCB solely a credit card or is it a debit card as well? I also did notice several shops accept only debit cards.

hailstorm

This morning I was unable to use this card at the Westin Tokyo!

Definitely has a much higher rate of failure than any other card I have.

I had no problems using a US Visa card there last month.

robyng

I started this thread after our trip last year. Have you or anyone else encountered similar problems elsewhere in Asia (we'll be going to Singapore in a couple of months)? Robyn

railroadtycoon

While JCB is the official sponsoring card of Disney in Japan, it is not the only card accepted.

At Family Mart they accept all credit cards, the JCB card is just their officially branded card, but they accept all types of cards.

JCB is both a charge/credit card depending on your account.

As for the shops at only accept debit cards.

They aren't exactly debit cards in the sense that they are not issued by banks or working on a Visa/Master network, but rather Japan has a load of prepaid cards issued like Suica/Pasmo , Rakuten Edy, ID, WAON etc. Generally you don't need a bank account, you can just get one of these cards, load money onto them and use them as you like. You probably had a Suica/Pasmo card if you were in the Tokyo area. Though various CC's do have these additional functions attached to the card. Eg my JCB has an Edy function as well.

FireEmblemPride

I have a few Japanese credit cards (Visa, Amex, JCB) and sometimes they fail at card readers in Japan too. A few tries usually fixes the issue, but sometimes I have to change payment methods until something works.

In 2007, once I had 5 credit cards fail at one shop too. The reliability varies more so than the U.S. in my experience.

kevincrumbs

Looking through my statements for my secondary card, it looks like the Chase Sapphire failed both at my hotel (Best Western Fino Sapporo) and at a store inside the Stellar Place shopping complex above Sapporo Station in late May. I've come to expect this to happen once or twice during my visits to Japan, which isn't a huge deal at all as I make sure to have a backup card on me, in addition to my debit card.

OliverB

For all of you who've had issues with the Chase Sapphire Preferred - are you using the newer card with the chip?

I'll be relying heavily on my Chase card as I'm kind of in cc limbo right now, being an expatriate Canadian in the US who only recently received his green card status and social security number. It's not easy for me to carry multiple cards and I had to jump through many loops to get this Chase card.

hailstorm

Yes, in my case.

kevincrumbs

Nope, still have the older one with no chip. I always attribute problems with the card to its thickness/material.

OliverB

So what does one do if the card fails? Can't the numbers just be input manually?

I'm a bit concerned about this because I won't be carrying enough cash to cover some of the expensive higher end meals we'll be splurging on, and I'll be pretty aggravated if I have to pull out cash and forgo the card. It seems like a really bad flaw in the card's design, considering most people are using it for travel. We have a couple of meals at JPY 70,000 a head (that's USD 1.5k + booze for two) and I'm not going to be happy if the card doesn't work. It's the reason we went with the CSP afterall.

OliverB

I wonder if I can request a backup from Chase in the form of a standard plastic version?

mkjr

Just my 2 cents but carry a good supply of cash just in case. I exchanged 3000$us just in case....

OliverB

That's such a pain... a good travel credit card is supposed to alleviate the need to carry cash and reward you for spending. I'm going to request a plain old fashioned plastic card from Chase as I've read in another thread that it seems to solve these problems.