So I should be receiving my Rakuten credit card soon, but the name on my card if katakana. My form of ID to show them is my residence card which is my name in romaji/alphabet letters. Will that be okay? Thank you!
It all depends on the delivery guy, I didn’t get asked for ID at all when I got mine, I just had to sign the delivery slip. But the name on my card is romaji so I also wasn’t worried about it as much.
The last time I got mine I said 陽性者です (corona positive), and the delivery guy slipped it through the window without confirming my identity. I really did have corona at that time, so I wasn’t making it up or anything.
The delivery guy didn’t even ask for an ID, just a signature. Maybe because name in ID is foreign and the guy who answered the door is a foreigner so they just assumed “ah this is the guy yes.”
The name ont the credit card will be in western letters anyways so you do not need to worry too much about it.
As said, it often depends on the delivery person that they will check corrector just get a sign.
When mine answered the door, I pulled out all 5 of my cards in Japan. My health insurance card actually had my katakana name so that one ended up working. But I suppose it’s luck of the draw on how picky the delivery person is.
I’ve had everyone tell me they don’t check, but I must be the unluckiest person because they did for me. I had to call Rakuten support and have them change the name and the card was resent to me, took an additional 2 weeks or so.
If you haven’t done 本人確認 in the process, the delivery guy will most likely ask you for an id that matches information written on the envelope. This is particularly true if Rakuten sends it using 本人限定受取郵便.
So either you wait for the delivery guy to show up at your door and see what he’ll ask for, or be proactive and call Rakuten to change your name to match your zairyu card. Another option would be to do 本人確認 before the card is mailed to you.
If you go to the city hall and register your katakana name as 通称名(Tsūshō-mei) you can had that printed onto the front of your my number card. It only takes an hour.
I’ve successfully used that for receiving a credit card which did require identification (driver even called first to make sure I had ID with katakana).
never been asked for ID
When I received my Rakuten Visa I had to show them my yuucho passbook because it has my name in both Romaji and Katakana. Plus my zairyuu card. That was around two years ago, in Kawasaki.
When I received my Amazon Mastercard a few weeks ago the postman just asked “are you hatsuneshiro? yeah? cool. hanko here please” without asking for my ID. Stamp, receive letter, he gone in under 10 seconds.
I had the exact same situation. My name on the card and envelope was in Katakana (I had to put katakana in the application because my English name was too long to fit and my bank rejected the cut off version of my name) The delivery man refused to give me my card because my resident card has my name in English. He wouldn’t accept my health insurance card whic does have my katakana name because it’s not photo ID. Even after showing him my bankbook which has both versions printed to prove that they are the same name he refused. Hilarious thing was after he saw my resident card had only my English name on it, he asked if my passport had my katakana name …because of course British passports have Japanese katakana in them /s
omg getting my rakuten card was such a freaking hassle because the delivery guy was being super anal about it. I had the same situation with katakana and romaji.
Luckily I had a Japanese friend and he helped me out and called the post office and fought them. And after a week of back and forth the delivery guy came, and he had a form and all I had to do was CHECK OFF A BOX on it and that was it!!!!!!! I didn’t have to sign my name or write anything else!
I had this problem, katakana on the credit card, and I dont have katakana on any of the IDs, because IT DOESNT EXIST. Of course delivery guy doesnt want to give me the card. A lot of back and forth with the credit card company and re-issuing the card etc.
Depends on the delivery guy as someone said. I was denied my rakuten card because my name was in Katakana on the mail and English on my residence card >:(
I once bought an iPad and did the “sell your old one back to Apple” thing which involves them mailing you a box to send the old one back. The delivery guy wouldn’t relinquish the empty box because I had a mixed-case name on the delivery label but my ID was all upper case. Spent 2 hours on the phone with Apple, Yamato, and the company that Apple contracts with to take in the old product as refurbs with no solution.
Nobody could do anything because of some antiquities law that sad the name has to be exactly the same. Sometimes Japan is like that, but I hope for your case the guy doesn’t check.
I had an issue where I had to put only part of my full name on the card as my full name is quite long (multiple middle names). For both Rakuten and Amex, Japan Post wouldn’t give me the card at the time of delivery, even though I showed them all my ID (My Number, Zairyuu, Driver’s License, Health Insurance).
However, I contacted both of them, and they asked me to send in photocopies of my ID to their office in a prepaid envelope. After this, I got my card 2 weeks later.
Costco, though? I got their MasterCard within a week of applying, no ID check needed (although I had to sign for it).
I had a bad experience with a similar card. Name on card FIRST LAST, name on id LAST FIRST. Delivery guy wouldn’t give it to me. Had to get a new card sent out. So like others are saying, probably depends on the delivery person.
Unfortunately this happened to me as well and every form of ID I have is in romaji. Like, I have a Japanese drivers license and it’s still in English/romaji. This kinda stuff comes up from time to time and I always wonder why every piece of Japanese government ID doesn’t at least have furigana or something somewhere.
Anyway, I never got my damn Rakuten Card because the delivery driver refused to give it to me despite showing like 4 forms of government issued ID. I received a notification after that to change my name by filling out a form and a request to include copies of relevant IDs etc.
I ended up putting it off for days, which turned into weeks, which turned into months. At this point I don’t even know if I still “have” the card/account, or if it’s been cancelled or whatever as I just haven’t gotten around to calling them. I ended up getting an Amazon credit card, as well as a SMBC credit card, so I kinda stopped caring.
It would be nice to have the points for Rakuten travel though…
18 comments
It all depends on the delivery guy, I didn’t get asked for ID at all when I got mine, I just had to sign the delivery slip. But the name on my card is romaji so I also wasn’t worried about it as much.
The last time I got mine I said 陽性者です (corona positive), and the delivery guy slipped it through the window without confirming my identity. I really did have corona at that time, so I wasn’t making it up or anything.
The delivery guy didn’t even ask for an ID, just a signature. Maybe because name in ID is foreign and the guy who answered the door is a foreigner so they just assumed “ah this is the guy yes.”
The name ont the credit card will be in western letters anyways so you do not need to worry too much about it.
As said, it often depends on the delivery person that they will check corrector just get a sign.
When mine answered the door, I pulled out all 5 of my cards in Japan. My health insurance card actually had my katakana name so that one ended up working. But I suppose it’s luck of the draw on how picky the delivery person is.
I’ve had everyone tell me they don’t check, but I must be the unluckiest person because they did for me. I had to call Rakuten support and have them change the name and the card was resent to me, took an additional 2 weeks or so.
If you haven’t done 本人確認 in the process, the delivery guy will most likely ask you for an id that matches information written on the envelope. This is particularly true if Rakuten sends it using 本人限定受取郵便.
So either you wait for the delivery guy to show up at your door and see what he’ll ask for, or be proactive and call Rakuten to change your name to match your zairyu card. Another option would be to do 本人確認 before the card is mailed to you.
If you go to the city hall and register your katakana name as 通称名(Tsūshō-mei) you can had that printed onto the front of your my number card. It only takes an hour.
I’ve successfully used that for receiving a credit card which did require identification (driver even called first to make sure I had ID with katakana).
never been asked for ID
When I received my Rakuten Visa I had to show them my yuucho passbook because it has my name in both Romaji and Katakana. Plus my zairyuu card. That was around two years ago, in Kawasaki.
When I received my Amazon Mastercard a few weeks ago the postman just asked “are you hatsuneshiro? yeah? cool. hanko here please” without asking for my ID. Stamp, receive letter, he gone in under 10 seconds.
I had the exact same situation. My name on the card and envelope was in Katakana (I had to put katakana in the application because my English name was too long to fit and my bank rejected the cut off version of my name)
The delivery man refused to give me my card because my resident card has my name in English. He wouldn’t accept my health insurance card whic does have my katakana name because it’s not photo ID. Even after showing him my bankbook which has both versions printed to prove that they are the same name he refused.
Hilarious thing was after he saw my resident card had only my English name on it, he asked if my passport had my katakana name …because of course British passports have Japanese katakana in them /s
omg getting my rakuten card was such a freaking hassle because the delivery guy was being super anal about it. I had the same situation with katakana and romaji.
Luckily I had a Japanese friend and he helped me out and called the post office and fought them. And after a week of back and forth the delivery guy came, and he had a form and all I had to do was CHECK OFF A BOX on it and that was it!!!!!!! I didn’t have to sign my name or write anything else!
I had this problem, katakana on the credit card, and I dont have katakana on any of the IDs, because IT DOESNT EXIST. Of course delivery guy doesnt want to give me the card. A lot of back and forth with the credit card company and re-issuing the card etc.
Depends on the delivery guy as someone said. I was denied my rakuten card because my name was in Katakana on the mail and English on my residence card >:(
I once bought an iPad and did the “sell your old one back to Apple” thing which involves them mailing you a box to send the old one back. The delivery guy wouldn’t relinquish the empty box because I had a mixed-case name on the delivery label but my ID was all upper case. Spent 2 hours on the phone with Apple, Yamato, and the company that Apple contracts with to take in the old product as refurbs with no solution.
Nobody could do anything because of some antiquities law that sad the name has to be exactly the same. Sometimes Japan is like that, but I hope for your case the guy doesn’t check.
I had an issue where I had to put only part of my full name on the card as my full name is quite long (multiple middle names). For both Rakuten and Amex, Japan Post wouldn’t give me the card at the time of delivery, even though I showed them all my ID (My Number, Zairyuu, Driver’s License, Health Insurance).
However, I contacted both of them, and they asked me to send in photocopies of my ID to their office in a prepaid envelope. After this, I got my card 2 weeks later.
Costco, though? I got their MasterCard within a week of applying, no ID check needed (although I had to sign for it).
I had a bad experience with a similar card. Name on card FIRST LAST, name on id LAST FIRST. Delivery guy wouldn’t give it to me. Had to get a new card sent out. So like others are saying, probably depends on the delivery person.
Unfortunately this happened to me as well and every form of ID I have is in romaji. Like, I have a Japanese drivers license and it’s still in English/romaji. This kinda stuff comes up from time to time and I always wonder why every piece of Japanese government ID doesn’t at least have furigana or something somewhere.
Anyway, I never got my damn Rakuten Card because the delivery driver refused to give it to me despite showing like 4 forms of government issued ID. I received a notification after that to change my name by filling out a form and a request to include copies of relevant IDs etc.
I ended up putting it off for days, which turned into weeks, which turned into months. At this point I don’t even know if I still “have” the card/account, or if it’s been cancelled or whatever as I just haven’t gotten around to calling them. I ended up getting an Amazon credit card, as well as a SMBC credit card, so I kinda stopped caring.
It would be nice to have the points for Rakuten travel though…