Japanese Golf Clubs @ Inpakuto.com - All about Golf, JPOP and Japan

When I first arrived in Japan I had brought all my Canadian Credit cards with me. Of course it did not make sense to keep them since they all were paid in Canada in Canadian dollars. So I needed to get myself some credit cards because I do a lot of shopping online. After doing a lot of research online, many forums for foreigners in Japan mentioned that it was very hard to get a credit card in Japan.

Luckily I had been a Gold Amex holder for nearly 15 years so when I came to Japan I called Amex Japan and they gladly swapped my Canadian card for a Japanese one and kept my member since 91 status (this was my first credit card ever back when I was in university in Canada). One thing I noticed though was that Amex is not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard here so I realized I had better get another card. So I looked at applying to several gas station credit cards like Jomo and Idemitsu. Of course they all turned me down being a gaijin apparently for the fear that gaijins will run up a big tab then run away! 

It didn't seem to matter that I was a resident of Japan who had purchased a house and had no debt. Other companies turned me down as well like Beisia, Alpen Sports, Cainz, Sogo and others store branded cards. Finally I decided to try GDO, yes a Golf Digest Online Card issues by Mitsbishi UFJ. I though hey maybe since I am in the golf business they would approve me. I did my application on their website expecting to receive a thin piece of paper in the mail days later saying I was declined as I was with all the others. However instead of getting declined by mail, I got a phone call from MUFJ asking to confirm my personal details and fax my drivers license and alien registration to them... this was the first time any company had asked me this and I took it as a good sign. 

Low and behold, 1 week later my new GDO Visa card showed up in the mail. Not only am I glad I got a Japanese visa card, the GDO card has pretty good Golf related perks and rewards! (^_^)