Originally Posted by
ainternational
As suggested above, I'm not sure why for anyone, regardless of country of residence, who is trying to maximize points and minimize costs, that a US based no international transaction fee card wouldn't be the best credit option?
Well, there is the issue that you have to do everything through a US address. If there is someone in the US who you trust to receive and forward your mail, fine, but otherwise the statements, replacement cards, correspondence, etc. are all going to go into someone else's hands.
Incidentally, E-Trade will let you open a brokerage account with a Japanese address, and it works just like a US bank account with checking etc. This is really handy for getting paid in USD or maintaining US credit cards/student loans.