Interestingly, one bank took it to what I can only describe as an incompetent level. One bank I use, CIBC, considers Japan a country with "elevated" fraud risk, thus requires PIN on all transactions there. This is fine if you have a Canada-issued card, those always ask for PIN because they're properly set up. It isn't fine for US-issued cards, which are set up to only ask for signature when outside the US. Even Apple Pay contactless (or in-Wallet transactions, like loading mobile Suica or ICOCA) won't work. It's a near-total catch-22 situation; the only place it works is JR ticket machines, which seem to require PIN entry regardless of how the chip is set up. Why use it for purchases? It's one of the rare few debit cards that earns rewards.