When I tried doing Global Transfer from the U.S. to Japan last year, I could only choose from the vanilla Amex cards (Green or Gold). That said, I did that and built up a credit history with Amex Japan, one that was enough to eventually grant me the Gold card (and Gold Medallion) at the end of 2013.

Interestingly, the card grants 5,000 MQMs for every ¥1,000,000 (~$10K USD) up to 3 times per year, in spite of the status.