Originally Posted by dvs7310

JCB isn't bad outside of Japan these days actually. They partner with Discover in the US and UnionPay in China. Additionally anywhere where there are a lot of Japanese tourists, usually JCB exists as a payment option as well. I've had their United Mileage Plus card for years, back when it was my primary card, I found it to be accepted pretty easily in North America and Asia. UC is good if you can get it, but they are owned by Mizuho so wouldn't hold my breath as a foreigner. A Gold JCB (if one exists for the Asiana card) would likely have access to the same lounges in Japan/Korea as the UC card, though prepare for severe disappointment with the ones in Japan.

Unfortunately having a clean record with SMBC doesn't necessarily carry much weight with other Japanese card issuing banks. They are just now starting to get centralized credit reporting here and many companies are not yet subscribed to it. There are many other arbitrary factors that play into deciding whether to give a card here than just credit report, unfortunately your name in Katakana instead of Kanji factors into that decision at some banks.



I have the Japanese Diners Club and it's wonderful for international travel in places where I'm not flying Star Alliance in terms of lounge access, however Japan is a dark hole in their network. Yes, they do have some options at Narita and Haneda but they are terrible. The same ones you'd get with a much cheaper Japanese credit card, not the higher quality business class lounges you get in most countries. I think in Korea Incheon is ok for Diners lounges, but Gimpo is another black hole. With the OP's travel pattern, it may not be worth the cost (About US$220 a year in Japan). However we do have a very cheap option for the unlimited Priority Pass here, Rakuten Premium card comes with the full priority pass for about $100 a year. Priority Pass and Diners Club lounges almost always mirror each other.