Originally Posted by
nwflyboy
I've wondered about MS options while traveling, too. I recall last time in Japan, the convenience stores had a dazzling array of things that looked like they had the option to store value - all completely new and unfamiliar, so tempting! Potentially very risky, though - if things go sideways, getting it fixed once you return to the US could be a real adventure. Of course, not being able to read Japanese also increases the risk more than a little!
Some of the convenience stores carry Vanilla Prepaids here but it looks like the registers are hard-coded to only accept cash for these. Besides, the fees are also higher than in the US.
Even if one were to find a way to purchase these on credit, next step would obviously be to figure out how to unload.
Some info on prepaids here:
http://blog.gaijinpot.com/online-sho...d-card-primer/
Although not MS, one thing you can do is pay your utilities by credit card. But in some cases if you pay directly from your bank account there is a small discount. So you have to be aware whether the reward from paying by cc exceeds the discount or not.
Similarly, you can have your train fare card (Pasmo/Suica) linked to a credit card so that it autocharges via cc, there might be some potential here.
Pure MS seems hard and yeah of course there's the language barrier to deal with when reading the fine print.